Agariyas facing eviction from wild ass sanctuary to meet Modi

Thousands of salt pan workers facing eviction from the Wild Ass Sanctuary in the Little Rann of Kutch will submit a memoradum of their demands to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Surendranagar district on April six.

"These workers (agariyas) have been harnessing salt in the sanctuary since the last 600 years," said Harinish Pandya of Agariya Hitrakshak Sangh, an NGO working for the betterment of the salt-pan worker community.

"The state forest department has issued notices to most of them in Novermber 2006, directing them to stop their vocation and vacate the area or face three years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 25,000," he told mediapersons here.

The agariyas have been asked not to work inside the 5,000-sq km area of the sanctuary on the pretext that the salt production activity and its transportation was disturbing the Wild Asses, Pandya remarked.

"The sarpanches of all the 107 villages having sizeable agariya population will make representation to the chief minister when he arrives in Patadi village of Surendranagar district to particiapate in a 'Agariya Sammelan'," he added.

"These agariyas are traditional salt makers and have no knowledge of any other profession. Any decision to uproot them will have a far-reaching impact on their livelihoods," Pandya said.

According to him, if the requests of the agariyas are not met then they will agitate by taking out a rally against the government in Ahmedabad on May one.