``The Act will guarantee social acceptance for people transplanted to unknown and, most of the times, unfriendly terrain to pave the way for development,'' Naik Nimbalkar told The Indian Express.

He has forwarded a draft of Prevention of Atrocities Against Project Affected Peoples Bill to the State government and it will be considered by the Cabinet in due course.

If Naik Nimbalkar's move gets an okay from the Cabinet, Maharashtra will become the first State to provide statutory protection to PAPs. Another first, considering it made the country's first Rehabilitation Act.

For thousands of families, uprooted from ancestral lands to make way for an irrigation project or an expressway or a wildlife sanctuary, social acceptanceremains a problem - it is at the very crux of all issues related to rehabilitation.

Koyna, once the powerhouse of western Maharashtra, is a case in the point. Ejected from the slopes of Western Ghats and sent to less-friendly places in Thane and Raigad districts, PAPs have been battling for social acceptance.