Villagers plan protest against Third Mumbai, allege land grab

Villagers near Navi Mumbai oppose the 'Third Mumbai' project, fearing land loss without compensation, and demand public hearings on their objections.

Intro: Furious at being denied a public hearing on the objections they filed, villagers say the state rushed the notification on the mega-project

Villagers plan protest against Third Mumbai, allege land grab

NAVI MUMBAI: Fearing that their land, homes and livelihoods would be usurped without adequate compensation to develop the new mega city, ‘Third Mumbai’, villagers are coming together to oppose the plan, to be rolled out in Raigad district, near Navi Mumbai.

Residents of the 124 villages that would encompass the mega-project are questioning the state’s intention in rushing with the project’s notification issued a day before the code of conduct for the assembly elections took effect on October 16. They are worried and angry over the absence of a public hearing on the 25,000 objections filed by the gram panchayats, gram sabhas and villagers in the region after a series of meetings held in the villages. The objections relate to the lack of clarity on the land acquisition process, compensation and regularisation of their houses.

The government had on March 4 announced its plan to develop the ‘MTHL Influence Area’, or the region around the Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link (MTHL), at the Raigad end, into a new city called Third Mumbai. Spread across 323.44sq km, it would encompass 124 villages in Uran, Panvel and Pen. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) was appointed as the New Town Development Authority (NTDA) for the development.

The plan includes 80 villages in NAINA, the Navi Mumbai Airport Influence Notified Area, 33 from Khopta New Town Notified Area, two from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Plan, and nine from the Raigad Regional Plan.

On October 15, just a day before the code of conduct took effect, the state government issued a sanctioning order notifying the areas. Furious at the development, the villagers held a meeting on December 15 under the aegis of the MMRDA Virodhi Shetkari Samiti, Raigad, to plan their course of action. They have decided to approach the authorities and launch a massive agitation, for which a formal committee will be set up at a meeting on Saturday.

Sudhakar Patil, president of the Uran Samajik Sanstha, said, “It is obvious that the government wants to snatch our land and hence the notification was hurriedly issued without a public hearing. We had successfully opposed the Maha Mumbai plan earlier and will do so again. We do not want to become landless and lose our livelihood for the benefit of real estate developers.”

He added, “We will lose our fertile land in exchange for peanuts. Why has NTDA been formed when the Land Acquisition Act of 2013 could have been implemented? It gives four times the ready reckoner value of land as compensation along with 20% developed land to the project affected. There is no clarity on the acquisition or compensation or whether it will be land pooling as in NAINA.”

Alleging land grabbing, Rupesh Patil, convenor of the samiti questioned why the UDCPR (Unified Development Control and Promotion Regulations) isn’t being implemented through which farmers will get 60% of the land, with ownership remaining with them. Just as the government leases land, why is our land being leased?”

He added that in the absence of gaothan expansion of villages, their houses will be considered illegal since they are on agricultural land. “We have permissions only from local authorities without conversion to non-agricultural land. We do not want to meet the same fate as that of villagers of land acquired by CIDCO earlier, who are still struggling. Our houses should first be regularised and property cards issued,” said Rupesh. “We will submit petitions to the chief minister, governor and the authorities concerned, and also hold further meetings in the villages. Plans are afoot to launch a massive agitation if our voice is not heard.”

MMRDA did not respond to HT’s repeated attempts to contact them.