Frontline

July 2000
Human Rights


Ex-soldier killed by Gujarat cops

The Gujarat police brutally murdered Lt Col Save in police custody simply because he was part of Kinara Bachao Sangharsh Samiti protesting the construction of a mega
port at Umbergaon, Gujarat

Shamsul Islam

The brutal murder, in police custody of Lt. Colonel Pratap Save, a retired army officer who had fought two wars with Pakistan, due to systematic bashing by the Gujarat police is snowballing into a national human rights issue with different organisations lending solidarity to the local struggle.

On 7–8 April 2000 the villagers witnessed the brutality of the state and local police when 48 villagers protesting the mega-port were arrested. The president of the Kinara Bachao Sangharsh Samiti, Lt Col. Pratap Save was held, and despite protests of a heart condition, was savagely beaten by the local police. He went into a coma, and succumbed to his injuries in a Mumbai hospital on 20 April 2000.

The government of Gujarat is proposing to construct a mega industrial port at Umbergaon in Gujarat. The development rights for this port project have been awarded to NATELCO and UNOCAL Corporation (a U.S. based oil and gas company). UNOCAL Corporation has a deplorable human rights and environment record and is facing lawsuits within America.

The proposed port site is a breeding and spawning ground for fish and supports the fishing industry in the area. The land is agriculturally fertile. The locals of Umbergaon are opposing the port project as it will destroy fishing activity and the fertile land will be acquired for laying railway lines and roads and for the construction of warehouses and other port facilities. The locals have been carrying on peaceful agitation in protest against the port since over a year.

In November 1999, about 2000 SRP personnel were brought into the area to put fear into the people. The locals came out onto the beach in large numbers and remained there for fifteen days — they danced and sang on the beach and protested in a most peaceful manner. On April 7, 2000, State Reserve Police (SRP) personnel were brought into the area again. The SRP tents were put up on private land. When the landowners protested this action, the SRP personnel and the police went on the rampage.

Women and children who were present in large numbers were mercilessly beaten. This violence took place under the orders of the Mamlatdar i.e. the administrative head of the sub-district. At about 8.00 p.m. the police requested five persons to come to the police station for talks, later another five persons were called. When the police returned for another five persons, the crowd asked where the previous ten were. The police instead of answering the queries of the crowd surrounded the people and indiscriminately started beating them.

About 28 men and eighteen women were arrested and taken to the Umbergaon lock–up. Those arrested included the office bearers of Kinara Bachao Sangharsh Samiti. Around 1.30 a.m. they arrested advocate Bhupendra Macchi and Lt. Colonel Pratap Save (President of Kinara Bachao Sangharsh Samiti) from their homes. Lt.Colonel Pratap Save, Chandrashekhar Sagar, Haresh B. Macchi, Harsh R. Macchi, Narhari Macchi and Advocate Ulhas Macchi were beaten by the police at the lock-up. PSI Zala and Dy. Superintendent of Police Narendra Amin beat the activists with lathis. Lt. Colonel Pratap Save was held by policemen and repeatedly struck blows with the lathi on his chest till he collapsed on the ground but the beating continued.

The activists were released on bail by the court on the next day but were detained under the law of preventive detention for another 24 hours. Colonel Pratap Save ultimately collapsed and had to be shifted to the hospital where he fell into a coma and thereafter died.

The release of a report, In The Name Of Development authored by Justice S.M. Daud and Rajan Singh, released by Justice Hosbet Suresh in Umbergaon on May 1 after terror had been unleashed on the local villagers helped to highlight the background behind the state oppression and police brutality. To express solidarity with the local struggle, Thomas Kochery of the National Fishworkers Forum addressed the local protestors and announced that June 5 is going to be observed as ‘Umbergaon Day.’ A few days earlier Medha Patkar of the Narmada Bachao Andolan had also visited Umbergaon and addressed residents. On May 20, a padayatra will be launched, led by Thomas Kochery that will go along the coastal areas of Gujarat to raise awareness on the issue

A writ petition on the issue is being filed at Ahmedebad on May 8 and the People’s Union of Human Rights (PUHR) has organized a large public meeting in Mumbai to protest against the brutal murder of Lt. Colonel Save at which human rights human rights leader, Swami Agnivesh, former chief of the Indian navy, Vishnu Bhagwat, poet and lyricist, Javed Akhtar, secretary, National Centre for Labour, D. Thankappan, senior journalist, Bittu Sahgal, Fr Francis de Britto, Dalit activist, Shyam Gaekwad, and local activists of the Kinara Bachao Sangharsh Samiti are slated to speak.

In mid–1999, the Indian People’s Tribunal on Environment and Human Rights (IPT) conducted an independent enquiry into the proposed Maroli-Umbergaon port project in Gujarat. On July 24–25 1999, the Tribunal held hearings in six villages in the Umbergaon–Maroli area and its adjoining towns and villages, which were attended by hundreds of local residents. Subsequently on 13 August 1999, representatives of the Gujarat Maritime Board and NATELCO deposed before the Tribunal in Mumbai.

The proposed port at Umbergaon–Maroli is to be an all-weather, multi–cargo mega-port that will handle fuel products such as LNG, cement, coal, chemicals and other cargo, expected to come to 3 millions tonnes per annum.

It is to be constructed by the Indo-U.S. consortium NATELCO-UNOCAL in four phases, at the end of which there will be an aggregate wharf length of 1800 metres. The estimated cost of the project is U.S. $300 million, of which the Gujarat Maritime Board has an 11% stake. There are proposals by the State and Central Governments for railways and highways to connect the mega-port to other urban and trade centres.

The majority of the local people depend on fishing and agriculture for their livelihood. The fishing industry is tied to the maritime ecology of Umbergaon, and its fish produce reaches local, regional and world markets.

There are 29 fishing centres in the district, and a total of 58,760 tonnes of fish was marketed from the area from 1994–1995. Construction of the mega-port and its facilities will require acquisition of large tracts of land, dredging along the coastline, reclamation of land, construction of breakwaters — all of which will disrupt the local economy and ecology.

The mega–port will destroy the breeding and spawning grounds for fish, will cause soil and ground water contamination in a region presently reeling from drought, and in a state which already suffers from severe industrial pollution.

The locals came to know of the mega-project when the port consortium beganconducting surveys in the area in early 1999. For the past fifteen months, they have been protesting the construction of the port and its potentially destructive effects on their local environment and livelihoods. However, their protest also questions the claims of the Government of the necessity of a port, when existing facilities in the region are under–utilised.

Allegations of grave environmental and human rights violations against people in the U.S., Myanmar (Burma), and other countries have been leveled in U.S. courts against UNOCAL, the American–owned transnational corporation backing the Maroli–Umbergaon project.

The terms of reference of the Tribunal included examining the transparency of the Government and of the NATELCO–UNOCAL consortium; the effect the mega–port project would have on the livelihoods, local economy and ecology of Umbergaon–Maroli; and the necessity of a new mega–port considering the proximity and capacity of existing ports in the region.

On all these counts, the Government and port consortium have been unable to either provide sufficient information, or satisfactorily convince the Tribunal of the necessity of the mega–port or its projected benefits.

The Tribunal found that the Government has denied the basic right to information to the local people. In the name of development, sustainable livelihoods of people in an ecologically rich area will be permanently destroyed.

The Tribunal also recorded the unanimous opposition of all sections of the local people to the mega-port - from fisher folk, to small and large landholders, and local industrialists. Their protest has also been recorded in resolutions of gram and taluka panchayats.

The Tribunal recommends that the concerned authorities provide the locals with the relevant project reports, feasibility studies, environmental impact assessments, and other documents. It further recommends the framing of a National Port Policy, and constitution of a National Port Authority, to prevent the haphazard and unregulated development of ports, further ensuring the optimal use of existing port infrastructure. Government should scrutinise the credentials of project developers prior to awarding contracts - especially foreign companies like UNOCAL with questionable track records in other countries. Most centrally, through public hearings and informed representation, the voices of the local people should be heeded.

Copies of the report are available with Indian People’s Tribunal on Environment and Human Rights.Call (022) 3759657 or (022) 3716690; e-mail : [email protected]

 

 


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