Gadchiroli Dec. 8 (District Correspondent) The farmers from five gram panchayat areas in Chamorshi taluka have strongly opposed the acquisition of their agricultural land for the Konsari Project and taken a stand that they don’t want the project neither will they hand over the lands for it.
These farmers have formed Sanyukt Jameen Adhigrahan Virodhi Samanvay Sangharsh Kruti Samiti for the comprising farmers and villagers of all the five villages. A delegation of this Samiti met the Resident Dy. Collector this afternoon and submitted him a memorandum in this regard.
The administration is suppressing our voice and the police stopped us at various places when we were heading for Gadchiroli to submit a memorandum in this regard to the district Collector, told the farmers in a press conference near Semana Temple this afternoon where they were stopped by the police.
We were heading towards Gadchiroli to submit the memorandum of our demands but the police unnecessarily stopped us at various places and did not allow us to reach Gadchiroli. When we reached near Semana Temple on the outskirts of the city, we were again stopped there and only 10 persons were allowed to meet the District Collector, they told.
The state government has issued an order of acquiring 963 hectares of land from villages Konsari, Jayrampur, Somanpalli, Mudholi chak No. 2 and Mudholi Tukum in Chamorshi taluka. However, the Gram Sabhas of all these villages have strongly opposed this acquisition and have passed the resolutions unanimously in this regard. The farmers and Gram Sabha members of these villages are not at all ready to hand over their lands for the project, said the memorandum.
The lands acquired by the government are irrigated and under cultivation where crops of paddy, cotton, soyabean, chilly etc are grown by the farmers round the year. The farmers are totally dependent on the agriculture as such if industry is opened on these lands, the farmers will lose their crops and will have to face starvation and will be ruined, said the memorandum further. The industry will also create pollution of water, air and sound in the area and our health will be endangered, it added.
The land acquisition process should therefore be stopped immediately, it was demanded. The farmers also warned to launch intensive agitation if the government goes ahead with its plan of land acquisition.
Mr. Shrikant Pawde, Sarpanch Ratan Akkewar, Dy. Sarpanch of Konsari, Ashwinitai Kumre, Sarpanch and Chhaya Bhoyar, Dy. Sarpancha of Mudholi Chak No. 2, Dipali Soyam Sarpancha, of Jayrampur, Dilip Wardalwar, Dy. Sarpanch of Mudholi Tukum, Nilkanth Nikhade, Sarpanch of Somanpalli Nilesh Madavi, Dy. Sarpanch, Ramesh kodape, leader of Sangharsh Samiti and many others have signed the memorandum.
It should be mentioned here that a couple of days back, these villagers had displayed banners on the entry points of their villages declaring ban on the public representatives, government officials and project officials to their respective villages.
