Gujarat Hardlook: Chandola lake demolitions— a lakeside in hot water

Indian Express

04-05-2025

Situated on the southern end of Ahmedabad and spanning an area of 109.6 hectares, Chandola Lake is, perhaps, the least documented of the three major lakes in the city.
While much is known about the history of the Sultanate-era Kankaria lake, and Vastrapur lake, situated in the heart of the city, has seen several initiatives for its renovation, Chandola Lake – a British-period water body built for irrigation purposes — has largely been synonymous with the slums that began cropping up on its lakebed over the last several decades.
Straddling the two worlds of Danilimda, a predominantly Muslim area, and the Hindu-dominated Isanpur, the lake shores have served as a home to vegetable vendors, casual labourers, scrap dealers and barbers who built their hutments and shops on the premises.
An eyesore of the authorities for a long time, the area has seen occasional demolition drives to weed out suspected illegal Bangladeshi nationals.
But nothing prepared the residents for what followed after the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22.
On April 26, 890 inhabitants were picked up on suspicion of being Bangladeshis and paraded through the roads of Ahmedabad for four kilometres until they reached the Crime Branch headquarters in Jamalpur.
Though a majority were let off after their Indian identity was confirmed, it brought little comfort for the residents as bulldozers started lining up outside the area on the night of April 28. On April 29, the bulldozers began their work. As many as 4,000 structures were razed, as claimed by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC).
Chandola Lake was meant to carry the waters of the Khari River that flows from Raipur village on the city's outskirts, through the Kharicut canal, which the British built in 1881, for irrigating paddy fields around it. For years, however, these channels have been clogged and the lake, which only fills up during excess rainfall, is split into three sections — two Nana (small) and the Mota (large) Chandola, the larger section drying up to form mudflats in summer.
Over the years, as encroachments began coming up, the area came to be known as Chandola talav na chhapra. A section of the slum, known as 'Bangladeshi basti' or Bangalivaas, has been of particular interest to the police and seen minor crackdowns.
Flattened
On April 29, AMC's 74 bulldozers and 200 trucks cleared up 1.5 lakh square metres of land here — more than the original target of 1.25 lakh square metres as Municipal Commissioner Banchha Nidhi Pani had told The Indian Express.
By May 1, the day the three-day demolition stopped, just 200 of 890 people detained from the area had been confirmed as 'ghuspaithiye' or illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, DCP Crime Ajit Rajian told The Indian Express, with the caveat that document verification remained underway.
While Minister of State for Home, Harsh Sanghavi, has described this entire operation as a 'historic victory' for the Gujarat Police, the Ahmedabad Commissioner of Police GS Malik said everyone staying in that area was a 'land grabber'. The inhabitants got no relief from the Gujarat High Court either with their petition against the demolition being dismissed on the grounds that the area was a water body where no construction could be permitted.
On May 2, the AMC began putting up pre-cast boundary walls along the cleared portion of the lake bed.
An AMC official says that a survey would be conducted on the work done so far.
According to a statement from AMC on Friday, 'In Phase-II, the police department and the AMC will jointly continue to remove encroachments in and around Mota and Nana Chandola lakes. A survey has been initiated. The electricity connections of the illegal residences have been ordered to be cut immediately. Different government departments will serve these residents notices. Those who don't vacate voluntarily will be booked as land grabbers by the Revenue Department.'
My son has just given his Class 10 examinations. My electric meter was removed without informing us, and when my husband Dinesh was away at work
Rekha Aud, a resident
'We are Indians'
Nestled in the bylanes of the Isanpur side of the lake, amid various temples, are residences of people who claimed they were 'neither Pakistanis, nor Bangladeshis' and were yet evicted with less than two hours' notice.
While acknowledging that there was encroachment on the lake, they claimed they have been living in the area for generations and deserve getting a notice in advance and 'an alternate place to sleep.'
First they demolished my house; so we brought all our belongings here (to our scrap shops). They came and took that away as well. Where do we go now?
Gauri Ramesh Dantani, a resident
Though AMC insisted it had removed encroachments of only Bangladeshi nationals, scrap dealers on the main road told another story.
Gauri Ramesh Dantani, who lost both her house and shop, says she has lived here with her family for more than 'three generations'. 'First, they demolished my house adjoining Bangalivaas; so, we brought all our belongings here (to our scrap shops). They came and took that away as well. Where do we go now?'
Chhagan Chauhan, a 48-year-old vegetable vendor, says, 'I have been living here since I was seven.' He adds, 'They (terrorists) killed 26 people, and we are also very sad about it…The government can take action on Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, we will not protest… but we are Indians, we have not done anything to anyone.'
Kailashben Jaiswal from Ayodhya tells The Indian Express, 'On April 30, they began disconnecting our electricity and stopped only when we all gathered in protest. They can demolish everything but our only request is that they give us some time…'
The Indian Express learnt that power supply to the area had been cut off on April 28 when the demolitions began. By April 30, the meters had been taken away.
An elderly woman with her belongings (Express/Bhupendra Rana)
Among the residents who lost the electricity connection are Vijay and Sheetal Dantania, who live in a one-room house with their three children. Holding her infant at her hip, Sheetal says 'the government' cut their power and pulled out their electric meter from its box on April 30. Vijay showed the electricity bill in his name to prove he was a paying customer. Another resident, Dinesh, too, said he has proof that his electric connection was legal.
National security angle
Following the April 26 crackdown, police have lodged only one FIR in the case and arrested alleged slumlord Lalu Pathan alias Lalu Bihari from Rajasthan who, they claimed, was instrumental in Bangladeshi nationals settling in the area.
One argument by Minister Sanghavi to justify the crackdown at Chandola was that four men had been arrested from here in 2022 for being part of a sleeper cell for Al Qaeda.
In an affidavit before the HC, the Gujarat government listed out a range of 'criminal activities' in this area.
Redevelopment, resettlement
Chandola lakeside has remained a sore point for years with plans to redevelop it never actually taking off.
The AMC budget for 2025-26 says that waterfront development will take place on the lakes, specifically mentioning that encroachers will be resettled. 'There is a need to rehabilitate those living in the untenable areas of lakes,' it adds. It further states, 'They (the homes) will be integrated into the PMAY -2 project…A total of 4,000 residences will be built at a cost of Rs 600 crore.'
There has been no word on the resettlement since.
What next
Speaking on the plans to fill the lake, an AMC officer says, 'Chandola Lake is not just about demolitions. It is about development… we are thinking about how to put some water into the lake.'
According to the officer, 'We will require 5,000 to 6,000 million litres. We are exploring whether this water can be brought from the Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) at Pirana.'
According to an AMC document accessed by The Indian Express, a total of 37 of 171 lakes in Ahmedabad remain under encroachment.
Officials admit that the demolition is not the end of their problem as those evicted were moving to other parts. A senior AMC official admits that this was a problem that had been set forth for consideration but there is no solution yet in sight.
On further demolitions, the official says, 'We are exploring several options but demolitions will be done in the future after giving notices to local residents.'
Meanwhile, Chhagan, the vegetable vendor, says a few officials came to his area on Sunday and said the 500-m settlement between Jogani Mata Mandir and Dashama Mata Mandir inside would be cleared on Monday, 10am. 'No survey, no notice. They just told us,' says Chhagan as he gathers his belongings. 'We have nowhere to go.'