06-18-2008, 10:46 AM
SEZ: Raigad farmers continue protest
Special Correspondent
MUMBAI: Farmers affected by the Reliance groupâs Mumbai Special Economic Zone (MSEZ) blocked the Mumbai-Goa highway at Vashi Naka near Pen in Raigad district for over two hours on Tuesday alleging that the government went back on its assurances.
The protesters led by senior Peasants and Workers Party leader N.D. Patil were later arrested.
According to Vaishali Patil of the SEZ Virodhi Sangharsh Samiti, over 100 protesters were arrested by the police and released later. While those arrested were being brought to the police station, farmers protested and there was a lathicharge by the police in which one farmer was injured.
Ms. Patil said that last year the government assured farmers that 22 villages in Pen taluka would be excluded from the MSEZ.
These villages are in the command area of the Hetawane dam and the Irrigation Department had agreed that these same villages could not be acquired for the MSEZ. It had also issued a letter to the District Collector in this regard.
Ms. Patil said the government had not yet notified the exclusion of these villages. In protest, N.D. Patil will go on a hunger strike on July 24.
Land acquisition
The land acquisition process for the MSEZ was still continuing despite total opposition from the people, she said. Reliance had acquired barely 20 per cent of the land for the project, she said.
Special Correspondent
MUMBAI: Farmers affected by the Reliance groupâs Mumbai Special Economic Zone (MSEZ) blocked the Mumbai-Goa highway at Vashi Naka near Pen in Raigad district for over two hours on Tuesday alleging that the government went back on its assurances.
The protesters led by senior Peasants and Workers Party leader N.D. Patil were later arrested.
According to Vaishali Patil of the SEZ Virodhi Sangharsh Samiti, over 100 protesters were arrested by the police and released later. While those arrested were being brought to the police station, farmers protested and there was a lathicharge by the police in which one farmer was injured.
Ms. Patil said that last year the government assured farmers that 22 villages in Pen taluka would be excluded from the MSEZ.
These villages are in the command area of the Hetawane dam and the Irrigation Department had agreed that these same villages could not be acquired for the MSEZ. It had also issued a letter to the District Collector in this regard.
Ms. Patil said the government had not yet notified the exclusion of these villages. In protest, N.D. Patil will go on a hunger strike on July 24.
Land acquisition
The land acquisition process for the MSEZ was still continuing despite total opposition from the people, she said. Reliance had acquired barely 20 per cent of the land for the project, she said.