Balganga Irrigation project: 1,854 families to be displaced, 253 ha forests to be diverted

Mumbai: A total of 1,854 families from 13 villages in Raigad district’s Pen taluka will be displaced for the upcoming Balganga Irrigation Project, according to a proposal submitted to the forest department by the water resources department (WRD) on August 24

Mumbai: A total of 1,854 families from 13 villages in Raigad district’s Pen taluka will be displaced for the upcoming Balganga Irrigation Project, according to a proposal submitted to the forest department by the water resources department (WRD) on August 24. Several families residing here was originally displaced due to the Koyna Dam, and now face displacement again.

Navi Mumbai, India- November 21, 2013 :Balganga dam project to get going at Pen in navi mumbai, India on Thursday, Nov. 21, 2013. ( Photo By Bachchan Kumar/ Hindustan Times) (Bachchan Kumar)

The project, which is being implemented to augment the drinking water supply in developing areas in and around Navi Mumbai, will also lead to the submergence of 253 hectares of forest land in Raigad district, the proposal reveals. Forest clearance (FC) for the same is awaited.

Balganga Dam’s larger submergence area, which includes both private and government lands, comes to 1,563 hectares. This land includes the 13 villages from where project-affected persons will be displaced, namely Jawali, Nifad, Karoti, Washivali, Ashte, Mohili Khalsa, Karambeli, Varsai, Padale, Nidhawali, Mohili Budruk, Gagode Budruk and Gagode Khurd.

“The project affected persons will be relocated across seven resettlement camps in Pen taluka itself. Distribution of compensation to the PAPs is also underway. We will also be settling all claims under the Forest Rights Act for a small proportion of tribals who will be displaced by this project,” said an executive engineer with the Raigad irrigation division of the WRD.

This project is one of several irrigation projects sanctioned during the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) regime and which had come under the scanner of the Anti-Corruption Bureau for cost escalations as part of the Maharashtra irrigation scam. The ACB investigation found that the project was given to a favoured contractor in haste without any environmental or forest clearance by fudging the tender process.

The project was also granted a 40% cost escalation to ₹488 crore from ₹353 crore and later, the project cost was hiked at the instance of the contractor by 150% to ₹1220 crore. The ACB charge sheeted 10 people in the dam probe, including six Konkan Irrigation Development Corporation officials. The project’s updated cost, as per the WRD’s proposal, comes to ₹3,036 crore.

In 2016, the BJP-led state government had taken a policy decision to get these controversial irrigation projects — Balganga, Kondhane, Kalu and Shai -- back on track, even as the anti-corruption bureau (ACB) continued to probe them.

Hindustan Times reported in October 2021 that just over 291 hectares of forest land in Raigad and Pune districts are likely to be diverted for the Kondhane dam project which is proposed to be built across the Ulhas River. The dam will displace two villages, Kondhane and Chochi, and 118 families are proposed to be relocated to about 8kms away.