High court stays Nirma cement plant construction

Gandhinagar, March 16 : The farmers' agitation against the cement plant being set up by Nirma in Gujarat's Bhavnagar district received a shot in the arm Tuesday when the Gujarat High Court restrained the company from carrying out any further construction work at the proposed site.

A division bench of Chief Justice S.J. Mukhopadhyay and Akil Qureshi, however, permitted the company to complete construction of a concrete raft by Wednesday.

The court's orders came on a petition filed by Shree Mahuva Khetiwadi Pariyavaran Bandhara Bachav Samitee consisting of farmers who are opposing the cement plant, which is being set up by the corporate giant at Mahuva in the district.

The petitioners had pleaded that 222 hectares of the 268 hectare land allotted to the company by the government comprised a water-body and produced satellite images, obtained from Hyderabad-based National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA), showing the water bodies near Samadhiyada village where the cement plant is coming up.

"We are happy with the directions of the court since the plant would ruin the entire agricultural scenario of the area built on the sweat and blood of the farmers," said local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Kanu Kalsaria, who has been leading the agitation against the cement plant.

The problem arose after the state government decision to allot over 250 hectares land in Mahuva taluka to Nirma for a Rs.1,400 crore cement plant which will use the abundant limestone in the area as raw material.

The farmers were agitated over this move since the limestone mining will lead to salinity ingress, which has been successfully fought off through tidal regulators constructed during the previous Keshubhai Patel government.