Farmers are up in arms against land acquisition for the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC). Activists are planning to make the protests bigger than their agitation against Reliance special economic zone (SEZ), which forced the government to return fertile land.

The DMIC is worth US $90 billion covering a length of 1,483km with a multi-modal high axle load dedicated freight corridor and investment region in its vicinity.

The DMIC website says the investment region would be a delineated industrial region with a minimum area of over 200 sq km (20,000 hectares), while the industrial area would cover a minimum area of over 100 square kilometres (10,000 hectares) in 24 nodes.

Ulka Mahajan, convener of Committee Against Globalisation, which spearheaded earlier agitations, feared that SEZ status to certain nodes would deny local self-government’s control over villages. “The planners will acquire 27,000 hectares for a green field port in Dighi. Overall, 56 lakh hectares will be taken,” she said. “DMCI should be treated as a private project and laws that apply for land acquisition for private purpose must apply.”

While the committee has planned a protest march to Mangaon revenue office on October 18, DMIC chief executive officer Amitabh Kant met CM Prithviraj Chavan on Wednesday.

Neither of them could be reached for comments. A senior official told HT that they discussed measures to hasten land acquisition, and land would be acquired under the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation Act to expedite the process.