While the rest of the country celebrated Diwali with an abundance of sound, colour, and lights, farmers from over 10 districts in Maharashtra rallied for a ‘Black Diwali’, as part of a unified protest against the construction of the Mumbai-Nagpur highway.
As an act of solidarity, farmers – including those from Shivde and Sonambe in Nashik and Fatiyabad in Aurangabad – decided to put up black lanterns in their homes and not buy new clothes for their children. This was because they needed their message to be received by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation Limited (MSRDC) and its ‘forceful’ acquisition of their lands.
The planning for the 700-km expressway, which is set to pass through districts like Nashik, Wardha and Ahmednagar and connect 26 talukas and 392 villages, began back in 2015. A partial cause for the delay is that of 8,450 hectares needed to build the highway, the MSRDC needs to acquire 7,500 hectares from farmers.
The aim of the MSRDC is to purchase the land under the ‘Direct Purchase Scheme’, where farmers sell their land at market price.
They, however, are reportedly not willing to give up their land – the very thing that sustains their livelihood – and have thus decided to carry on their protest against the project by celebrating a ‘Black Diwali’ this year.
The protest was led by the Samruddhi Mahamarg Shetkari Sangharsh Samiti (SMSSS).
The movement seems to be another loophole in the state government’s pledge to appease farmers, and comes shortly after the government implemented the loan waiver scheme.
Responding to the protest, MSRDC claimed that the land acquisition was being done in a ‘negotiated’ manner and that there was no ground for allegation of a ‘forced’ land acquisition.
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