The first-of-its-kind referendum on whether farmers and their kin want the Reliance Industries-promoted special economic zone (SEZ) in Navi Mumbai was marked by low voter turnout today. Out of 30,000 eligible voters, whose names were included in land records, only 6,151 showed up for voting.
“A total of 6,151 eligible voters registered their opinion,” said district collector Nipun Vinayak.
Reached for comments, top Reliance executives said the low turnout vindicated the company’s position on the issue.
Vinayak is not expected to declare the result of the referendum immediately and will submit a report to the Maharashtra government after analysing the opinions expressed by the farmers along with their votes. After that, the state government is expected to announce whether the 22 villages in Pen taluka will be a part of the SEZ or not.
However, some civil society activists had told the villagers not to give any opinion to the officials. “To ensure that the government doesn’t get the scope to misinterpret the opinions of the farmers, our activists who combed the area for the last three to four days gave clear instruction to the farmers that they shouldn’t answer any of the questions posed by the officials and should simply tell them that they don’t want to sell their land,” said Vaishali Patil, coordinator, Anti-Mumbai SEZ Action Committee.
The activists could be seen posted outside each polling booth, which was in the local school, to collect one copy of the form. Based on these forms, the committee is expected to declare the result of the opinion poll soon.
Vadahav, a village located 10 km off the Mumbai-Goa highway, became the centre of attraction for the Mumbai media. Villagers staged a protest against the initial refusal of the officials to acknowledge the no-opinion forms given to them by the anti-SEZ activist. Tempers ran high and those sympathetic towards the SEZ were intimidated.
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Sudam Mhatre, who owns an acre of land in the village and runs a poultry farm, said: “I am willing to sell my land for the SEZ project, provided I get Rs 1 crore for my one acre of land. I have four sons and I can’t sustain my family on the ragtag poultry which I operate, and one acre of land.” The mob did not take kindly to his utterances.
Kaleshree, another village located around five km from Vadhav, barred the media from entering till the end of the voting. Angry youth from the village appeared in favour of the anti-SEZ activists.
Murlidhar Mhatre, a farmer from Motha Bhal, the largest village in the designated SEZ area with more than 2,000 eligible voters, said emphatically: “Out of my five acres of land, I had earlier sold one acre for the SEZ. But today I cast my vote against the SEZ. That time, I needed money for my daughter’s marriage and I also to carry out repairs of my house; so I sold the land. Why should I sell off the rest of my land which gives me enough income to support my family?”