Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train: 8 MNS workers arrested for disrupting survey

Around 250 farmers in Diva and Shil are slated to lose their land for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high speed railway project

As Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) workers stopped the joint measurement survey for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train at Shil village on Tuesday for second day in a row, the Shil Daighar police have arrested eight MNS workers for disrupting the survey work. The authorities began the survey after the arrest.

District authorities conducting joint measurement survey in Shil village, Thane on Monday. (HT PHOTO)

A police officer from Shil Daighar police station said, “We have arrested eight MNS worker under section 353 of IPC for obstructing government work. Those arrested include Ravindra More, Pushkar Vichare, Sandeep Pachange, Vinayak Ranpise, Janardan Kharivile, Tushur Patil and two more MNS workers from Dombivali. The authorities started their survey after the arrest.”

Of the 508-km route, around 39.66-km will pass through Thane district. Around 250 farmers in Diva and Shil are slated to lose their land for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high speed railway project, according to a district authority.

Avinash Jadhav, Thane district president of MNS said, “We had asked the authorities to stop the survey. On Tuesday, we had a meeting with the farmers when we came to know the survey was going on. Therefore, our MNS workers along with Thane city president Ravindra More, went to the survey spot. However, the police stopped us before we reached the spot.”

This enraged the workers, who then got into a ruckus with the police. The police detained 14 workers and later arrested eight of the MNS workers for protesting.

Jadhav stated that though the authorities are trying to use police pressure, they will not stop the protest.

In the meantime, the farmers’ organisation from Diva villages also have drafted a letter to Thane district authorities, demanding clarity on compensation before going ahead with the survey.

Diva was the first place where farmers registered their protest. The joint measurement survey of seven villages in Thane district started on Monday.

Rohidas Munde, president of Sath Gaon Bachao Sangharsh Samiti, a farmers’ body, said, “The policy of compensation has still not been fixed and the survey is being imposed forcefully. We had organised a meeting of all local farmers affected by the project at Mhatardi. After the meeting, we drafted a letter stating that farmers should first be taken into confidence.”

He said that the farmers should be given clarity on the compensation they will receive against their land. The compensation should be in par with the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) land rates, Munde added.

The committee said that they will allow the survey only after these demands have been met. The letter was handed over to the sub-divisional officer on Tuesday.

An officer from the district office said, “We have received the letter and will forward it to the appropriate state government authority.”