Pavana dam-affected farmers not to accept land allocation letter from deputy CM

Pune: The farmers affected by the Pavana dam project have decided not to attend deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar's programme on October 4 in Maval, where he is likely to distribute letters to some of the affected farmers for allocation of land for rehabilitation.The farmers are demanding that the state govt should give them in writing that they will be given four acres of land each as promised at the meeting held by relief and rehabilitation minister Anil Patil in June this year."None of us will accept the letter from the govt unless it provides us in writing that we will get four acres of land, including two acres around the dam and two acres anywhere in the district. This was promised by the minister at the meeting, after which we even celebrated the decision. But later, when we received the minutes of meeting, more than 1.5 months after it was held, we found that we would get only two acres of land," said Narayan Bodake, president of the committee for Pavana dam-affected farmers."The farmers are demanding four acres of land each and the divisional commissioner's office in Pune should check government rules, legal aspects and also take opinion of the law department into consideration before taking any action on the matter," a letter pertaining to the minutes of the meeting shared by the state govt with the farmers said. "This letter from the govt makes it clear that our demand is not yet fulfilled and the promise the minister made at the meeting was also false," Bodake said.According to officials, a total of 1,203 farmers were affected by the project in 1972. Altogether 340 farmers were given four acres of land each by the govt, while the remaining are yet to receive any help despite fighting against the govt on the streets and in the court for over 50 years. "We are demanding four acres of land that the govt has already given to some affected farmers," Bodake said.The long-pending issue of rehabilitation of these farmers has been part of the poll promises made by political parties in the Maval assembly constituency for years. Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar is scheduled to unveil various development projects in Maval during his visit to the assembly constituency on October 4.NCP MLA from Maval Sunil Shelke, who has been following up on the issue with the govt, said, "I am taking up this matter with the concerned authorities and will ensure that farmers get four acres of land each."
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