Following an outcry by members of the Daman community living in Leicester, Keith Vaz cut short his holiday and travelled to Daman a union territory in Gujarat, in order to meet the Chief Administrator if the union territory, Mr. Praful Patel.
Members of the Daman community that now live in Leicester were anxious following the decision by the government of Daman to demolish their houses.
There are 11,000 Damanese who now live in the Leicester East constituency. Many thousands more live in other parts of the country.
The concern, as expressed by the Damanese in Leicester, was that the government had destroyed their homes without giving them sufficient notice even though they had lived in them for many decades.
Keith Vaz travelled to Daman and had an hour’s meeting with the Chief Administrator, Mr. Praful Patel.
Keith Vaz said; “The Daman community have made an enormous contribution to Leicester. They have settled in our local community, which has been home to many people from Indian and other parts of the world. They are already facing an anxious time due to Brexit, as many of them hold Portuguese passports.
The demolition of their homes in Daman as well as the possibility of more homes being demolished is making them extremely anxious.
“I had a very constructive discussion with Mr. Patel. I believe that Mr. Patel has a vision for Daman and he wants to develop it as a tourist and education centre. I was particularly impressed by the commitments made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in order to enhance the development of Daman.
“There are plans for major hospitals together with a major education centre. Mr. Patel wants to make sure that Daman becomes a key destination for tourists coming to India. However, I pointed out that giving people 3 days’ notice that their homes were to be demolished was not sufficient time. The matter has now gone to the High Court in Mumbai and we are now awaiting the outcome. Mr. Patel promised that there would be no further demolitions until after the court has made its ruling and that he would talk to me about any further matters concerning this issue. I welcomed his constructive and positive approach. We must stop the demolition of these homes and give local people the chance to enter a strong dialogue with the government”.
