Sprouts Special Investigative Team Reveals Strong Opposition to Adani’s Dharavi Redevelopment Project in Maharashtra
Protests Erupt as Villagers Resist Survey for Dharavi Redevelopment
On Thursday, a dramatic confrontation unfolded in Aksa village, Malad, where local residents clashed with city survey officials (CSO) from the collector’s office who had arrived to survey land for the Dharavi Redevelopment Project, led by the Adani Group. This was part of an ongoing plan to rehabilitate residents under the controversial redevelopment project.
Having previously thwarted a similar attempt, the locals were determined to prevent the survey from going forward. However, in a surprising move, officials arrived three hours earlier in a police van, catching the villagers off guard. “Villagers were waiting at the entrance from 9 am to stop the officials’ entry, but when they arrived, the survey had already begun,” said Kiran Koli, general secretary of the Maharashtra Machhimar Kruti Samiti. “As soon as this was discovered, around 3,000 more villagers came out to protest.”
Rajendra Kshirsagar, the district collector of Mumbai Suburban, however, claimed the survey was completed before the protest could halt it.
The protestors, a mix of Kolis (fishermen), Bhandaris (farming communities), East Indians, Adivasis, and other residents from Aksa, Madh, Kharodi, and Malvani villages, carried placards declaring themselves ‘bhoomiputra’ (sons of the soil) in opposition to Adani’s takeover of their lands. They set up barricades away from the entrance, preventing entry while their loud slogans forced the officials to retreat, said Dhanaji Koli, a prominent member of the fishermen’s society. “The police escorted them out through another exit and took them to Malvani police station,” he added. “We followed them.”
The protestors only calmed down after the CSO officials agreed to provide them with a letter confirming that the land had not been measured yet. The previous landowners, the Shri Mukteshwar Vividh Karyakari Seva Sahakari Society, along with farmers whose land borders the plot, were also present.
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By 12 noon, the crowd had reached Malvani police station, where the CSO officials assured them that the survey had been halted, their objections had been noted, and that the concerns would be forwarded to the revenue department.
Unmesh Gujarathi
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