Gandhinagar: About 150 families living in an area under the jurisdiction of the Deendayal Port Authority (DPA) in Gandhidham, Kachchh, are deprived of basic facilities such as roads, drainage, drinking water, electricity, schools, anganwadis and toilets. The reason is that municipal authorities cannot undertake development work in areas outside their jurisdiction. For the past 40 years, these families have been living on an open plot located adjacent to the powerhouse at DPA, Kandla.Human rights activist Kantilal Parmar has been pursuing the case of these 150 Scheduled Caste families for the past year or so. Their case came up for hearing when the NHRC held a two-day camp in Gandhinagar last month. The commission has asked the district administration to submit a detailed report on the matter by Oct 29.“The Gandhidham civic body says the hutments fall under the port trust’s jurisdiction, not its own. More than whether these hutments are illegal or not and whether they are located within the port land or outside, this is a matter of providing basic rights to people,” said Parmar, who first approached the NHRC in Nov 2025 regarding the plight of the people.Teja Pareghi, a labour contractor, who has been living there for 38 years, said that the 150 families have approached the municipal corporation, collectorate, and electricity company with several applications over the years. “We feel we are living 100 years behind the times. There is no water connection, drainage connection, road, electricity or schools,” he said.Pareghi said the families moved about 40 years ago to where they are presently living, and worked as labourers at the Kandla port. “Over the years, automation came in and now, the residents do different kinds of jobs in Gandhidham,” Pareghi said.Kantilal Parmar said that while it might be possible that some of the residents must be resorting to unscrupulous means to secure electricity or water connections, the larger issue is that the people have a right to basic facilities. “The NHRC has asked the district administration, SP and the Kandla port to provide a detailed report on the matter by Oct 29,” he said.
