Motnath Residency is government housing project for low-income group families (Representational)
Several residents of a housing complex built by the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) under a Gujarat government scheme have been staging protests against the allotment of an apartment to a Muslim woman, saying the locality is meant for Hindus only.
Demanding that the allotted flat be cancelled, the residents warned of intensifying their agitation and taking up the matter with the state and the Centre.
The woman beneficiary said although she was allotted the house six years back, she could not move in due to opposition from other residents.
The residents claim that houses cannot be allotted to members of the minority communities because the Harni area, where the complex is located, is a Hindu locality and falls under the Disturbed Areas Act that bans the sale of property by members of one religious community to those from another without prior approval from the district collector in areas declared as "disturbed areas".
Municipal Commissioner of Vadodara Dilip Rana said he received representation from the residents of Motnath Residency in the Harni area and an appropriate decision will be taken after studying all relevant documents.
"I have just received a representation from the residents. I will check all the documents and then make an appropriate decision. We have a provision under which Hindus and Muslims are given flats in their respective areas. This applies to housing projects that are situated in disturbed areas. We have to check if this society falls in that category," he said.
Motnath Residency, which has nearly 460 flats, is the VMC's housing project for low-income group families under the state government's Mukhyamantri Awas Yojana.
Residents have been protesting and writing letters to different authorities after a Muslim woman, who currently lives elsewhere, was allotted a house in 2018.
"Though I was allotted the house way back in 2018, I could not move in because of the opposition from other residents. Even today, there is no solution in sight. I currently live at the other place with my son," she said.
Over 50 residents of Motnath Residency protested near the society's main gate today demanding the allotment be cancelled.
"Even though 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 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 protests in Gandhinagar and Delhi," said Parmar.
Another agitating resident backed him.
"This is a Hindu area and there is a provision that says 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 last 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.
"The VMC earlier announced that minorities would be allotted houses in their areas like Tandalja and Akota. If our demand is not met, we will stage protests outside the 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, the 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.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)