Prateek Tanmay
3 min readSuratUpdated: Jun 9, 2026 08:31 AM IST
The removal of alleged encroachment on government land in Surat’s Saniya Kande village on Sunday led to a verbal altercation between village Sarpanch Jashpalsinh Solanki and two sons of newly appointed Deputy Mayor of Surat Municipal Corporation Sudhakar Chaudhary.
A video of the heated argument between the village sarpanch and the deputy mayor’s sons Rahul Chaudhary and Atul Chaudhary, who have taken a party plot near the government land on rent, has since gone viral on social media.
Solanki, who is also BJP state Kishan Morcha secretary, said the “encroachments” were removed following complaints from local residents.
On Sunday, Solanki, along with villagers, reached the government land, which is being used as grazing land by local residents, and started removing “encroachments” including make-shift shops. Soon after, Rahul and Atul turned up and quarrelled with the village sarpanch. Later, Dindoli police reached the spot and brought the situation under control. The village has a population of over 50,000 people.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Solanki said: “The cattle grazing land with survey number 77 is owned by the panchayat. The Deputy Mayor’s son took the Madhuban party plot, having revenue survey number 76, on rent, and they had levelled the grazing land and allowed people to start an omelette shop, a pan shop, a chicken shop, etc, which were being functioning till late in the night.
They have also made a pathway on the grazing land to reach the Madhuban party plot.”
“Earlier, we asked them to remove such encroachments following complaints from the villagers. Seeing no positive response from them, we decided to remove the encroachments,” he said.
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“On Monday, we had a meeting with the Gram Panchayat and decided to fence the entire cattle-grazing land under revenue survey number 77 with barbed wires. We will also submit a memorandum to the Surat district collector and the Mamlatdar in this connection on Tuesday,” he said.
Meanwhile, SMC Deputy Mayor Sudhakar Chaudhary, also from the BJP, denied the allegations of encroachment on the government land. “My sons have taken a party plot, where marriage and other events are held, on rent, and we have not done any encroachment. The party plot is the only source of income of the family. I have seen a video of the heated argument between the sarpanch and my children,” he said.
