Thousands of peasants from 78 villages in the Raigad district of Maharashtra have been waging a continuous struggle for the last one year to prevent their land from being taken away forcibly.
Thousands of peasants from 78 villages in the Raigad district of Maharashtra have been waging a continuous struggle for the last one year to prevent their land from being taken away forcibly. The Maharashtra government was trying to do this in the name of constructing the “Delhi – Mumbai Industrial Corridor”, but due to the united and stern opposition, the government has not been able to take over the land till now. And finally, the Central government has declared that this region would not be part of the proposed industrial corridor.
The “Delhi – Mumbai Industrial Corridor” is a project that will affect millions of people in several states all the way from Delhi to Mumbai. Many billions of rupees have been earmarked for this project in which Japan is also slated to play an important role. But this project has neither been discussed extensively in the parliament or state assemblies nor has there been much public discussion about it. An independent agency has been formed for implementing this project. The responsibility for requisitioning lakhs of acres of cultivable land for this project has been given to various state governments. As part of this conspiracy, thousands of farmers of Raigad district were suddenly given notices to surrender their land to the government about a year ago. They were told that land is essential for social progress, but were not told which project their lands were being requisitioned for. The names of many peasants were substituted in the land records with that of the government. The peasants were agitated by this and organised to oppose this takeover; the result was that the government’s plans were defeated.
But the very next day, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra told the press that removing this project from Raigad would cause a huge loss to Maharashtra and hence efforts would be made to convince the peasants regarding the need to cooperate for this. By Maharashtra, the Chief Minister of course means the big capitalists of Maharashtra, and by “convincing” he means of course the use of force and all means fair and foul. All the working people of the country are definitely with the thousands of peasants of Raigad in the struggles ahead. The struggle of the peasants of Raigad is an indispensable part of the struggles of peasants all over India to prevent forcible takeover of their lands in the name of “progress”.