As part of the chain protest of 23 villages falling under the Navi Mumbai Airport Influence Area (NAINA) in Panvel taluka, Sukhapur village was completely shut down on Sunday.
In the next 22 days, one village will be closed on each day. Villagers will stop all work for a day and hold a protest against the project.
The chain protest is being carried out under the banner of NAINA Project Affected Utkarsh Samiti (NPAUS).
What is the protest about?
Former MLC Balaram Patil said that the purpose of the chain protest is to inform villagers about the project and how it will grab their lands. “CIDCO is taking land without giving compensation,” said Patil.
According to villagers, there was a total shutdown in Sukhapur village. There was no business or movement of vehicles.
NAINA is a participatory land pooling scheme where villagers will get 40 percent of the developed land of the total land they will surrender to develop NAINA city in the Raigad district. At present, CIDCO is executing a pilot project, consisting of 23 villages in the Raigad district.
As per the plan, starting from February 23, one village will be closed for the day from 9 am to 4.30 pm. Only essential services will be allowed.
Villagers will assemble during this period and protest against the project.
Advocate Suresh Thakur, PAP leader said that the scheme is not viable for villagers.
“The impact assessment report says that around 42% of land in NAINA is multi-crop land. How will the villagers survive if they surrender these lands and get only 40% of the development land? Even villagers have to pay different charges for development.”
