Displaced families in Vikramgad have no water, power, land

JAWHAR: Asra Nagar near Jawhar town provides a convincing reason why tribals have stiffly opposed dam-induced displacement in the area, and how inherently flawed the rehabilitation policies drafted for them have been. A resettled colony of 21 families who were displaced by the Khadkhad dam project in 2009, Asra Nagar has been without electricity, water or access to roads for the past four years.

Sixteen other villages with more 5000 residents in Jawhar and Mokhada talukas in the Vikramgad constituency also face the threat of such displacement with the planned construction of two dams under the Damangangapinjal river link project. The issue however, was not part of the election discourse or the campaigns of any of the candidates in the constituency.

Nineteen of the 21 tribal families at Asra Nagar were not compensated with farmland, and now work as construction labourers. The other two families were compensated with just one-tenth the size of the farms they owned. The Dhangares, who owned 43 acres of farm at Khadkhad, have been allotted just 4.5 acres at Asra Nagar. “This land is on a slope, where we can only grow millets,” said Hemant Dhangare, 21. Sunita Ghatal, 25, whose family was not compensated with any farmland Khadkhad, now works eight hours a day at a construction site, for a daily wage of Rs 150. “With no farm, we are left with no choice. I work from 8am to 6pm and then spend two hours to fill water,” she said.

A half-constructed well has been abandoned, and residents are forced to fill water from a thin stream which is a steep, 15-minute climb down. Letters to the Maharashtra State Electricity Board asking for power connections to homes have gone unheard.

Natural habitat of forests, farms, pastures, rivers can never be replaced. Milind Thatte, founder of NGO Vayam said, “As the government provides ‘land for land’ as its compensation policy, it should also consider providing ‘forest for forest’, as they are a significant