MUMBAI: In Vasai west, this is what pushback looks like – 9,000 residents of the idyllic Gaas village uniting to let the municipality know they won’t allow a dumping ground and sewage treatment plant (STP) to be slipped under their noses and forced into their midst. The protest lasted just two days but it drew results. The Vasai Virar City Municipal Corporation (VVCMC) has withdrawn its application to shift a reservation for the dumping ground and STP from Agarwal Nagar in Vasai east to a 1,500-acre plot in Gaas.
Vasai village gets VVCMC to junk dumping ground plan
The VVCMC, and before them the Palghar collector, has been eyeing the Gaas plot for a dumping ground and STP for 18 years. So, batting the proposal is not new to the 5,500-odd residents of this predominantly Christian village often described as ‘Mini-Goa’ for the ancestral mansions that dot the surrounding farmland.
The latest protest erupted when a social activist spotted a public notice in a local Marathi newspaper published by the VVCMC, inviting the mandatory objections and suggestions to a proposal to shift the reservation from Agarwal Nagar to the 1,500-acre plot in Gaas village.
The move to shift the reservation comes after the VVCMC undertook a massive demolition drive at Agarwal Nagar, where it razed 41 unauthorised buildings between November 2024 and end-Jan 2025, most of them occupied. In the midst of the colossal amount of Floor Space Index (FSI) freed up potentially for sale to builders is 48 acres of partly private and partly public land reserved for the contentious dumping ground and STP.
“The municipality wants to parcel out the land to developers but imagine having a dumping ground and STP in the middle of a new development. Clearly, the reservation is getting in the way of these plans,” alleges Dhananjay Gawade, of the Swaraj Abhiyan, a local social organisation.
When Gawade spotted the VVCMC notice in a local Marathi newspaper, he spread the word among the residents of Gaas. The deadline for inviting objections was March 8, leaving the villagers just two days to mount their protest.
“We went door to door and appealed to the residents to register objections. Citizens of Gaas and other surrounding villages registered their objections by submitting online and in-person applications. In two days, 2,500 objections were registered,” recounts Joy Fargos (33), a Gaas resident. “The municipality cleverly inserted the notice in a local newspaper and not a prominent daily, hoping no one would see it. And they almost succeeded. We were furious! We had no choice but to approach political parties,” says Joy, a banker.
Proposal to state govt
The public notice follows a proposal sent by the VVCMC to the state government in January 2025, seeking approval under Section 37(1) of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966, which allows civic bodies to make minor changes in approved development plans. The application was for the shifting of the reservation from Agarwal Nagar to Gaas village.
Joy’s mother, Josaphine Fargos, a former corporator, said the Gaas village land falls in a no-development zone and is owned by the collector. “This is our ancestral land, and we will not let VVCMC destroy it in the name of development. The land is also used for social and cultural events like kite flying and fun fairs for locals,” Josaphine said. “There are families who have been living here for centuries, earning a livelihood from farming. There are no buildings here, only bungalows. A dumping ground and STP would destroy the farms, besides creating health issues for us, many of whom are senior citizens,” she added.
There’s another, bigger problem with allowing a dumping ground and STP in Gaas. The plot the VVCMC wanted to use is a massive holding pond for flood water. Should it be filled in with tonnes of garbage or a sewage treatment plant, monsoon flood waters would swallow people’s homes in a wide radius, points out Gawade. He says it is also an ecologically valuable area, a natural habitat visited by seagulls and flamingos.
Earlier attempts
This is not the first time Gaas has battled the proposed reservation. The first attempt at introducing a dumping ground and STP to Gaas was in 2007, when the Palghar district collector had applied to the state for such a reservation. This was before the VVCMC was established in 2019, says Gawade. “After the villagers protested, the government put the plan on hold and eventually deleted the reservation.”
Parallel to this, there was proposal for a dumping ground and STP in Agarwal Nagar. It was accepted and 48 acres had been earmarked. However, unauthorised buildings started coming up in Agarwal Nagar, blocking the dumping ground and STP here.
Meanwhile, in 2017, the Palghar collector re-applied for a same reservation in Gaas and in 2022, the VVMC too reapplied for a reservation in Gaas.
In January 2025, after Agarwal Nagar was cleared of 41 illegal buildings, the VVCMC applied to the state to transfer the reservation for a dumping ground and STP in Gaas.
Finally, on March 6, with only two days to go for objections to be submitted to the reservation, Gaas residents filed 2,500 objections and staged protests outside the VVCMC. They were backed by former Vasai MLA Hitendra Thakur and incumbent MLA Sneha Dubey Pandit. “I met chief minister Devendra Fadnavis last week and apprised him of the matter, and he directed the municipal corporation to reverse the changes,” says Dubey.
Municipal Commissioner Anil Kumar Pawar said the reservation in Gaas village was sought as the population of Vasai-Virar would rise by 5 million by 2041. “The plan was made assuming the population would rise and for no other reason,” said Pawar. “We have taken back the decision owing to public sentiments and transferred it (the reservation) back to the original plot at Agarwal Nagar,” he added.
The residents are not entirely convinced. “This is just half the battle won. We want a written assurance from the municipality,” says Gawade.
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