In PM Modi’s home state, Morbi farmers take on Adani over transmission project

In Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat, farmers from around 35 villages in Morbi district — known as the Patidar heartland — have been locked in a confrontation with the Adani Group for the past two weeks, protesting the installation of high-voltage electricity transmission towers on agricultural land.

The agitating farmers are demanding the relocation of the towers from farmlands and compensation for land affected by the project.

The transmission towers are being erected by Halvad Transmission Ltd, a special-purpose vehicle (SPV) of Adani Energy Solutions Ltd (AESL), the country’s largest private-sector power transmission and distribution company. The infrastructure is part of the transmission network being developed for the Khavda Renewable Energy Zone.

Despite sustained protests, farmers allege that neither the BJP-led state government nor the local administration has responded to their concerns. Frustrated by the lack of response, several farmers have launched an indefinite hunger strike at Jetpar village.

The agitation has gathered significant local support and has become politically sensitive. Among the fasting protesters are 57-year-old Rakeshbhai Shivlal Amrutiya and 51-year-old Bharatbhai Amrutiya, brothers of Kantilal Amrutiya, state minister and multi-term BJP MLA from Morbi, as per a report in the Indian Express.

According to the report, the movement has also received support from village representatives across the region, with sarpanches from more than 35 villages expressing solidarity with the protesters.

The protesters have made it clear that they will not negotiate with the administration until construction work is halted.

According to Gujarati daily Sandesh, the farmers have submitted a six-point charter of demands. Chief among them is compensation at 400 per cent of the market value of the land, similar to the package offered to farmers in Rajasthan, rather than compensation based on Gujarat’s jantri (official circle) rates.

Farmers also allege discrimination in compensation. Citing earlier projects along the same corridor, they claim that landowners affected in 2021 received substantially higher compensation with some receiving up to Rs 1 lakh per pole. However, farmers in Halvad are now reportedly being offered only Rs 50,000 per pole, far below the compensation paid in neighbouring areas.

The protesters argue that once the transmission towers are erected, the land beneath and around them becomes effectively unusable for cultivation, leading to a permanent loss of productive agricultural land and reduced farm incomes.

The agitation has also found political backing from the Congress. On 15 June, the Gujarat Congress launched a statewide protest march from Gandhinagar, and support for the Morbi farmers was among its key demands. A large number of farmers from Morbi participated in the march, which has since travelled through several districts of the state.

As the indefinite hunger strike continues and support for the agitation spreads across villages, the Morbi farmers’ standoff with Adani Energy Solutions is emerging as one of the most significant rural protests in Gujarat in recent years.

The movement presents a political challenge for the BJP government, which has been accused of extending preferential treatment to the Adani Group at the expense of farmers and local communities.