: In south Gujarat, farmers are resisting limestone mining on fertile land #IndiaNEWS It was 9 pm when the coastal village of Nicha Kotda was engulfed by the dark of night. In the village library, under

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In south Gujarat, farmers are resisting limestone mining on fertile land #IndiaNEWS
It was 9 pm when the coastal village of Nicha Kotda was engulfed by the dark of night. In the village library, under the light of a sole bulb, two young men were sitting on the floor, waiting for others to turn up. It was April 1, the day of their monthly congregation to plan strategy and action for resisting the takeover of their fertile lands by a cement company for limestone mining. Since 2018, the farmers of Nicha Kotda have protested more than 10 times, taken the matter to the court and even secured a win in panchayat elections. “We will do everything in our ability to save our farms,� Bharat Bhil, a teacher and activist from Nicha Kotda village, told IndiaSpend.Yet, limestone mining by UltraTech Cement, an Aditya Birla Group company, is slowly eating into private agricultural lands in Mahuva and Talaja talukas (blocks) of Bhavnagar district in south Gujarat, our investigation shows. Over the years, companies including UltraTech have benefited from a change in mining regulations, loopholes in the environmental appraisal process and lack of effective state action against pollution violations, documents reviewed by IndiaSpend show.Even as limestone mining has picked up pace, work on a state government-sanctioned check dam that would benefit the 30,000-strong...Read more

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