http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=119340#
Waiting for water Fight for plot of land deepens divide between Dalits and upper class in Moxi village: Dalits get water at 2 am, can�t access barber services Ayesha Khan Moxi (Vadodara), February 27: It�s 2 am, but there�s a flurry of activity at the Dalit-dominated area of Moxi village. In every Dalit household someone is awake despite the odd hour because it�s time for them to collect water for the next day. While the rest of the village gets water supply in the evening, the Dalits have to stay awake till the wee hours for their taps to run for the last few days. The timing of evening water supply in the area changed abruptly a few days ago after the Dalits, like their upper caste counterparts, tried to build houses in the fallow land in the village, which the latter say is reserved as a playground for their children. Ironically, the land in question belongs to neither; it�s government land. DSP Siddharth Khatri who had intervened when it appeared that things could take an ugly turn, said, ��Both the sides are fighting over the right to use government land. This is not a caste conflict but a conflict due to difference in perceptions by both the sides in the use of a land which is not even theirs,�� the DSP said. For the 60-odd Dalit households in the village, barely 30 km from Vadodara, the culture capital of the State, social ostracisation and harassment is nothing new. ��This is not the first time that we are being harassed. In 1972, we had to agitate for tap water, now it is for land,�� said Raman Parmar, a community leader. Some Dalits said there have also been occasions when stones were pelted in the Dalit neighbourhood in the night. On Friday, the upper caste dominated Moxi gram panchayat unanimously passed a resolution preventing the use of land by Dalits who seek to build their homes in the fallow land. The Dalits� attempts to build homes in the government fallow land like their upper caste neighbours were met with stiff resistance and they were allegedly bashed up by the latter, including sarpanch Niruben Vaghela�s husband, on February 21. The land was also used to a burial place for dead buffalo and even a child, though the village has a separate burial ground. It was timely intervention by Vadodara DSP Siddharth Khatri himself that saved the situation from deteriorating. The buffalo carcass was also removed but it was back to square one once the DSP left. DSP Khatri said it was timely police intervention that helped to cool tempers. The police have also informed the district collectorate to look into the matter of land allotment, even as it has asked both the sides to follow the rule book. A couple of policemen have been posted in the village to prevent violence, pressure tactics have taken subtler forms. The five barber shops in the village have remained closed for the last three days to avoid Dalit customers. Earlier, too, the Dalits were denied access to the barber shops, but after police presence in the village, the shops were closed down instead of denying service to Dalit customers. ��Our children play cricket on that land. My son even used his pocket money to level the land as a playground, the Dalits can reside elsewhere,�� says Niruben Vaghela, the village sarpanch. The Sarpanch admitted that there was some boycott but blamed it on the villagers. Meanwhile, the upper caste dominated village panchayat passed a clever resolution on Friday. ��The Dalits will not use the land for their homes and our children will not play there,�� said the sarpanch. Meanwhile, Dalits from the village continue to trudge it out to the neighbouring villages or even up to Vadodara, for a hair-cut and a shave. ------------------------ Yahoo! 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