The hitch? The state administration and local leaders have been locked in battle over where to position the new district headquarters, for encapsulated in that teensy marking on the map of Maharashtra's second largest district are the developmental prospects of 10.36 lakh people.While the state administration wants the district collectorate located at Palghar, local leaders insist on the tribal taluka of Jowhar. This, the latter point out, would enable the new district, which will comprise six of Thane's 13 talukas, to be classified as a `tribal district'. And this, in turn, would entitle the new district to a Tribal Surplus Budget.

Of the annual budgetary allocation for each of the state's 33districts, tribal districts receive seven per cent more, points out Devidas Patil, president of the Social Welfare Development Department of the Thane Zilla Parishad. With the allocation for the proposed new district pegged at Rs 27.46 crore, the new district would receive that much more, he says. At present, Gadchiroli is the only tribal district in Maharashtra. However, if Palghar is selected as the district headquarters, the new district would have to forfeit this privilege, he says.

Moreover, with Jowhar as the headquarters the benefits of development – roads, education, nutrition, power and water supply -- would trickle down more easily to all the five surrounding tribal talukas. This will not happen if the local administration is concentrated at distant Palghar, Patil says.``In fact, the government's argument is at best myopic if not downright lopsided. But that is not surprising,'' says Patil. Government officials, he reveals, have been plumping for Palghar because it is already more developed interms of infrastructure and communications than the other five talukas. Not only would it be cheaper to set up a new collectorate here, it would also be more convenient for the staff, for obvious reasons.

However, Patil points out, such reasoning undermines the very argument in favour of Jowhar, which is to facilitate development of the entire region. ``Are the fruits of development meant to benefit the new collectorate or the adivasis who live in the five other talukas,'' he asks. Aslo, adds Vasudeo Patil, president of the Bharatiya Janata Party's Thane district unit, ``If Jowhar is inconvenient for the local administration, its central location would make it more accessible for the local people.''

Moreover, following the malnutrition deaths in Mokhada and Talasari in 1992, the state government shifted an additional collector, two sub-divisional officers and three project officers from the Thane collectorate to Jowhar. Hence, Vasudeo Patil, points out, a local administration of sorts already exists inJowhar. The government only needs to augment the staff there, he points out.

In fact, it was the malnutrition deaths that precipitated the idea of bifurcating Thane to give the six tribal talukas a developmental thrust. The 150 km that separate Thane city from the region, the government suddenly reasiled, cut off the tribal belt from `civilisation'.

The government then appointed a committee comprising local and state government officials in 1994 to assess modalities of forming a new district. The committee, which submitted its findings the same year, had recommended that Jowhar, Palghar, Mokhada, Wada, Talasari and Dahanu talukas, which account for one-fourth of Thane's population, comprise the new district. It also recommended Palghar as new headquarters.

Now, with the government failing to notify the new district in its Gazette on March 15 (45 days before the May 1 deadline for creation of the new district) local leaders cutting across party lines are growing increasingly restless. A demonstration washeld at Jowhar on March 25, followed by a signature campaign among the adivasis. On March 29, a memorandum was also forwarded to Chief Minister Narayan Rane. Local leaders from various political parties have been on a hunger strike at Jowhar since April 5.Thane Guardian Minister, Diwakar Raote, told Express Newsline that the state Cabinet is still considering the demand for Jowhar as the new headquarters. However, he admitted this will delay the bifurcation beyond May 1. He also said Vasai, Shahapur and Murbad should be included in the new district so that Thane would comprise only the urbanised talukas. Otherwise, he said, development of the former three talukas may be ignored. He was non-committal on the all-important decision on the new district headquarters, saying that was for the state Cabinet to determine.