Several residents of a housing scheme built by the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) under the Gujarat government’s housing project have launched protests against the allotment of a flat to a Muslim woman, saying the locality is meant ‘only for Hindus’.
The protesters have demanded cancellation of the allotment to the woman. They told local media in Vadodara that if the allotment was not revoked, they would intensify their agitation and hold protests in Gandhinagar and New Delhi.
The protest by the residents have once again exposed the near-complete housing segregation in Gujarat where in a majority of places, Muslims don’t get any house for lease or for purchase.
The beneficiary said although she was allotted the flat six years ago, she could not move into it due to the opposition by other residents, who are not willing to let her stay in the flat built for lower income groups under the subsidised housing project of the State. “Though I was given the house way back in 2018, there is no solution in sight. I currently live at another place with my son,” said the woman.
Protesting residents said houses cannot be allotted to members of minority communities because Harni area, where the complex is located, is a locality of Hindu inhabitants and falls under the Disturbed Areas Act that bans the sale of property by members of one religious community to those from another community without the prior approval of the District Collector.
Municipal Commissioner of Vadodara, Dilip Rana, said he has received a representation from the residents of Motnath Residency in Harni area and a decision will be taken after studying all the relevant documents. “I have just received a representation. We have a provision under which Hindus and Muslims are given flats in their respective areas. This applies only to those housing projects which are situated in disturbed areas. We have to check if this society falls in that category,” he said.
With 460 flats, Motnath Residency is a project under the State government’s flagship Mukhyamantri Awas Yojana. Allotment in the scheme is done through lottery system.
“Despite the fact that the entire area falls under the Disturbed Areas Act, one flat in this society, having 12 towers, has been allocated to a Muslim woman. We don’t know how this allotment was made. We all purchased flats in this society thinking that we will be able to live peacefully because of the enforcement of that law,” said Jitendra Parmar, one of the agitating residents.
“We are not against anyone. We just want her to be allotted a house in her area so that everyone can live peacefully. Despite our protest, her flat was not transferred to another scheme by the VMC. If the allotment is not cancelled, we will intensify our stir and stage a protest in Gandhinagar and in Delhi,” he said.
Another resident said they are determined to protest in Gandhinagar and Delhi if the issue is not resolved.
“This is a Hindu area and there is a provision which says that minorities should not be allotted flats in Hindu areas. However, since a flat has been allotted to a person from a minority community, other residents have been protesting for the past several years and have given a memorandum to the authorities in the past too. However, the VMC is not cancelling the allotment,” said the resident who does not wish to be identified.
“VMC had earlier announced that minorities will be allotted houses in their areas like Tandalja and Akota. If our demand is not met, we will stage protests outside offices and residences of corporators, MLAs and MPs. We will gherao Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel in Gandhinagar if the issue is not resolved,” he said.
The Gujarat Prohibition of Transfer of Immovable Property and the Provision for Protection of Tenants from Eviction from Premises in Disturbed Areas Act, 1991, commonly referred to as the Disturbed Areas Act, is aimed at preventing distress sale of properties in communally sensitive areas.
Under this Act, permission of the District Collector is mandatory for the sale or transfer of property in the areas notified as ‘disturbed’ to ensure that the sale was not out of any distress or compulsion, and to see that the seller had received a fair price. This Act is currently in force in parts of Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot, Khambhat, Bharuch, Kapadvanj, Anand and Godhra towns and parts of Bhavnagar and other places.
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