Maruti Suzuki has been facing a lot of problems in terms of its production facilities. India's largest passenger car maker has been planning to open manufacturing units in Gujarat. However, it seems as if the development will be slowed down because of the prevalent slowdown in demand and protests from farmers against the land allocation. Notably, the Gujarat government had allotted land to Maruti Suzuki in villages of Ughrojpura and Hansalpur. Both these villages are situated in close proximity to Mehsana, which is one of the constituents of Mandal-Becharaji, a Special Investment Region (SIR).
Earlier, following protests from a few villages, the Gujarat government had reduced the proposed area for SIR from 500 square km to a 100 square km. This development led to the phasing out of 36 villages from the plan and as of now, there are only 8 villages remaining. Sources have claimed that farmers living in these 8 villages are also demanding their land back, saying that they prefer farming over industrialisation. According to sources, farmers believe that the success of the SIR plan will effectively take away half the land, which will leave them with insufficient resources to meet requirements of cattle fodder. Reports suggest that representatives of Jamin Adhikar Andolan Gujarat (JAAG) have termed this development as a victory for farmers.
Farmers, sources say, believe that the government's decision to keep 8 villages under the SIR plan is a move to pave the way for plants of Maruti Suzuki India Limited. About over a year ago, the country's largest passenger car maker decided to enter into a support agreement with the Gujarat government, wherein it would buy land near Mehsana. As per this agreement, the land was to be used for manufacturing of cars for domestic production and export as well. The setting up of this production facility had a stipulated potential investment of around Rs. 4000 Crore. These plans, understandably, have been slowed down by Maruti Suzuki due to the unfavourable condition of the Indian car market.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director at Maruti Suzuki, Kenichi Ayukawa, spoke about this issue at the launch of the of the Stingray in the national capital. Speaking to a section of journalists, Ayukawa said that Maruti Suzuki will possible slow down the speed of development in Gujarat as the market is going through a rough patch. Apart from this, he added that given the kind of demand that is prevalent in the market, the firm has sufficient stock present in the Haryana production plants.
As of now, Maruti Suzuki, owner of two land locations in Gujarat, has not taken any stand on the happenings in Gujarat, thereby making no statements. Both pieces of land owned by Maruti Suzuki are in close proximity to each other, within a distance of around 40 km. While one piece of land, located in Hansalpur village, was given to Maruti Suzuki by the government, the other has been purchased from the owner itself.
While Maruti Suzuki is pretty calm and composed about the situation, farmers in Gujarat are extremely vulnerable and a second round of protests is expected to happen soon. After successfully forcing the government to remove a number of villages from the SIR plan, the protests are now focusing solely on the remaining eight. According to sources, a high percentage of villagers prefer traditional farming and also expect the government to respect gazing, cultivation and fodder rights.
