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Mungsare villagers oppose land acquisition for outer ring road project
As many as 25 residents of Mungsare have accused the Nashik administration of trying to ‘forcibly’ take away their land
According to Kamalabai Kirkade (81) and her son Nandu (55), a team of police personnel arrived at their house in Mungsare village, (rural) Nashik, early morning on May 2 to undertake a land survey for the outer ring road project. “The assistant collector, G V S Pavan Datta, heckled and beat me with a baton since I vehemently opposed the survey. I sustained injuries on my left hand. The police personnel beat my son,” alleged Kamalabai.
The octogenarian isn’t the only one opposing land acquisition for the project. As many as 25 residents of Mungsare, including her, have accused the Nashik administration of trying to ‘forcibly’ take away their land for the outer ring road project.
The 66 km outer ring road project – planned to decongest traffic in the city – is proposed to be completed ahead of the Simhastha Kumbh Mela to be held in Nashik. The administration has to acquire over 300 hectares of land across 25 villages of rural Nashik, including Mungsare, for the project. Located around six to seven km from Nashik city, Mungsare has a population of over 5,000 with agriculture as its mainstay and locals grow crops such as grapes, tomatoes etc. According to the residents of Mungsare, at least 10 hectares of land in their village is proposed to be acquired for the outer ring road project. This in turn will affect 25 farmers, with some of them losing their dwellings and others losing their farmlands and shops. As such, the villagers have demanded that the alignment of the outer ring road be changed so that there is no need to acquire any land in Mungsare village.
“I have already told the local authorities that I will not give any more land for any project. In the past, the local administration has taken parts of my land for a dam, a road, and an irrigation project,” said Kamalabai.
Another villager, Akshay Katad, said, “The local gram panchayat held a meeting in January this year when the villagers came to know that the administration was planning to acquire land for the project. We passed a resolution opposing land acquisition in the village for the outer ring road project.”
On Monday, the aggrieved farmers staged a protest in front of the district collectorate, demanding action against Datta and the police personnel. The farmers even claimed to have met minister Girish Mahajan, who is in charge of the upcoming Kumbh Mela. Mahajan reportedly assured them that he would look into the matter.
On Thursday morning when the villagers came to know that Shiv Sena (UBT) MP, Sanjay Raut, was in Nashik, they met him and narrated their woes.
Raut initially went to Datta’s office with the villagers but Datta wasn’t there. The group then met district collector Ayush Prasad who assured them that he would look into the matter. Nashik UBT MP, Rajabhau Waje, was also present along with Raut.
“I have apprised my party chief Uddhav Thackeray about the matter. He expressed concern over the issue. I have also spoken with state revenue minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule who has promised to look into the matter. I will raise the issue in the forthcoming session of Parliament,” Raut said.
When contacted, Datta rubbished all allegations. “I did not beat the elderly lady (Kamalabai). She, along with another woman, tried to self-immolate when our team reached there. Our female police personnel rushed to stop them and, in the process, the elderly lady got injured,” Datta claimed. He said that the elderly woman had visited his office a couple of times to discuss the land acquisition issue. “She was never ill-treated despite her opposition to the land acquisition. I am handling the land acquisition for the project in four villages. There has been no complaint against me from any of the other three villages,” Datta said.
