PUNE, Feb 4: Farmers from 15 villages water-logged by the backwaters of mighty Koyna reservoir in neighbouring Satara district, about 40 km south of the hill-resort of Mahabaleshwar, staged a spirited satyagraha on Saturday last, demanding back their farm lands which were acquired for the 98 TMC project, but were never needed.The peasants, mainly paddy and coarse food grain growers, accused the State Government of having infringed the Land Acquisition Act on one hand and the revenue code stipulations on the other.
Surplus land acquired for the Koyna dam was not returned to the owners, instead, they were handed over to Forest and various other government departments, Koyna Jeevan Hakka Sanrakshan Sanghatana activist Avinash BJ said.
Further, hundreds of affected people who returned to the valley after an unsuccessful rehabilitation attempt have been tilling these lands for over three-and-a-half decades now, yet the revenue and forest authorities have not bothered to adhere to their own rules regardingrecording of encroachments on these lands. ``Probably, the Government is avoiding creation of records of presence of Koyna inhabitants,'' Avinash said.
The villagers from Kandati valley -- a tributary of Koyna -- including a large number of women, demolished the periphery markers erected by the Forest Department in the land under cultivation, signifying the tillers' ownership.
Later at a meeting at Nivali village, the agitators asserted their right to their land, water and air.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
