Blind man uses RTI to expose land scam

AHMEDABAD: Just how large block of pastoral land meant for cattle feed is written off by the state government for private mining purposes has been exposed by a visually-challenged RTI activist Ratna Ala from Rangpur village in Junagadh. Ideally any ‘change of use’ of such land has to be approved by the state government, but in this case the Wankaner mamlatdar allowed the mining company to extract black trap, a minor mineral from the land.
The mining permission given involves revenue survey number 206, which is a pastoral land as per the Rajkot district revenue records.
There at least seven revenue plots under the ‘206’ series as per records.
“There are Supreme Court rulings that has prohibited pastoral land to be given away for mining. Then how can a mamlatdar supersede such court orders and the state government,” says Ala, who was at Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pehel (MAGP) RTI week workshop at Kochrab Ashram.
Ala’s earlier application has already made the government fine two other companies for illegal mining in Wankaner taluka.
Ala in this case could see how the natural resources in his village were being mined illegally and the culprits scooping out moram, a particular kind of soft gravel from the grazing land.
Earlier, Ala had used RTI to get roads and drinking water to his village.
He was elected as deputy sarpanch in 2012 after which he started the crusade against illegal mining.
Ala was awarded the Rahul Mangaonkar award for RTI use by The Times of India in 2009.
Sources in the geology and mining department said they receive around 10-15 complaints of illegal mining daily through written communication and the helpline.