Farmers' protest forces postponement of land survey for Shaktipeeth in Sangli
A total of 8,500 hectares of farmland will be acquired for this 802km long highway project connecting 12 districts in the state and costing about Rs 86,000 crore. It aims to connect major pilgrimage sites and reduce travel time between Nagpur and Goa to about seven hours.
Mahesh Kharade, Sangli district president of Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, said, "The farmers gathered on Monday morning at Dongarsoni village of Tasgaon tehsil to oppose the land survey for the Shaktipeeth project, but no one arrived for the exercise.
On Tuesday, they have declared land mapping at Siddhewadi village. The farmers will strongly oppose the project there as well. We won't let this project go on.
What's the use of this highway if fertile land is going to be acquired?"
In Sangli district, the Shaktipeeth Expressway will pass through 19 villages, for which 717.187 hectares of farmland from 7,611 farmers will be acquired. The land survey and mapping from 10 villages at Tasgaon tehsil in Sangli district have been planned to be carried out between July 7 and 22.
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On Monday noon, a meeting of farmers from Chandgad, Ajara and Gadhinglaj tehsils was held at Gadhinglaj town after the local Chandgad MLA Shivaji Patil (independent MLA supporting BJP) put forward a demand in front of MSRDC officials to take the Shaktipeeth Highway via Gadhinglaj, Ajara and Chandgad route to allow industrial and tourism development.
Farmers in large numbers gathered for the meeting and showed displeasure over the MLA's statement, saying that MLA should not shatter the dreams of farmers. Sangram Kupekar, former zilla parishad member, said, "MLA Patil is seeking development, which is not required here. Thousands of hectares of fertile farmland will be lost to the unnecessary project. We will intensify our agitation and carry out a road blockade and a protest rally soon against Shaktipeeth.
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