Reliance Industries, which is developing the country's largest special economic zone (SEZ) near Navi Mumbai on 10,000 hectares, has been caught on the wrong foot by the state government's decision to carry out a referendum in 22 villages covered under the SEZ. This is for the first time in the country that project-affected farmers' opinion was being sought whether they were ready to part with their land.
State Chief Secretary Johnny Joseph told Business Standard that the referendum will not be extended to other projects in the state, where land acquisition is an issue. This is a special case as the 22 villages can get irrigation facility after the work on distribution channels was completed.
However, that's small consolation for Reliance, which expressed surprise over the state government's sudden decision. Though Mumbai SEZ Pvt Ltd's spokesperson declined to comment, sources close to the company said the state government should have informed the company before taking such a decision.
Sources, however, claimed even if there was a referendum, it won't affect the project as a large section of farmers was supporting it. Unlike Singur, there was no physical displacement, they claimed.
Meanwhile, following the decision of the state government to hold a referendum, the pro-SEZ lobby has become active and launched efforts to do damage control. Local Congress MLA and Minister of State for Public Works Ravi Patil, known for his pro-SEZ stance, has sought appointment with state's Relief and Rehabilitation Minister Patangrao Kadam to discuss the issue.
Kadam will be meeting Patil on Monday. It may be recalled that Kadam heads the state's relief and rehabilitation authority which recently cleared the package announced by Reliance for the farmers.
In the backdrop of Tata Motors' land trouble in Singur, the state government has decided to adopt a cautious approach on the whole issue as they don't want to be seen as anti-people with elections nearing.
The 22 villages, where the state government plans to carry out the referendum, come under the command area of Hetavane dam and cover nearly half of the area of the proposed SEZ. Once the distribution channels of the dam are complete, these villages can get access to assured means of irrigation.
Demanding the exclusion of these villages from SEZ, veteran Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) leader N D Patil went on an indefinite hunger strike during the monsoon session of the state assembly.
He subsequently withdrew his hunger strike after an assurance from Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh to consider the demand as the SEZ Act prohibits acquisition of irrigated land.
When contacted, Vaishali Patil, media coordinator of the Anti-Mumbai SEZ Action Committee, welcomed the decision and said, "We are sure about the fact that farmers don't want the SEZ, but we will carry out intense campaign in these villages, convincing people to turn out for referendum in large numbers and reject the SEZ."
She further added that the committee would go ahead with the demand that those whose name was missing in the land records should also be allowed to vote as many a times even after a division of property, only one person's name was there in the records. She also feared about large scale bogus voting taking place.
