District administration misses another deadline

NASHIK:The Nashik district administration has for the

second time

missed the

deadline set

for completion of

joint measurement

for the Nashik stretch of state government’s ambitious Nagpur-Mumbai

Samruddhi Super Communication

Highway project.

Opposition by farmers from Shivde and surrounding villages over land acquisition for the project last week has apparently halted the joint measurement exercise. The district administration had initially set March 31 as the initial deadline for completion of the joint measurement of land for the project. It was further extended to April 15 due to opposition from farmers. However, the administration has missed this deadline too.

The stand of the farmers against land acquisition has received a shot in the arm as they have got support from Swambhimani Shetkari Sanghatana (SSS) MP Raju Shetty and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA Jitendra Avhad.

Shiv Sena, which had initially raised its voice against land acquisition, has now mellowed down its stand on the issue. The joint measurement of 11 km-route out of the 59 km-route passing through Nashik district (Sinnar and Igatpuri taluka) has been completed and the exercise thereafter has come to a standstill in Shivde village.

“We are firmly against any land acquisition for the project from our village. It is our final decision. We had gone to meet the collector who did not provide us any solution for our issues. If the administration is adamant, so are we,” Vinayak Harak, one of the villagers, said.

The stand by the villagers was supported by the leaders of SSS who went to Sinnar on Friday and launched a scathing attack on the state government and the manner in which the district administration was functioning.

“We all are part of Nashik district and it is surprising that district guardian minister Girish Mahajan does not come to us for the flagship programme of his party. Why is he shying away from meeting and discussing the issue with us,” questioned Rukhmabai Harak, another resident of the village.

What could further aggravate the situation is that the Congress-NCP combine

Sangharsh Yatra

— that started from Buldhana — is scheduled to address the farmers in the region by Tuesday.

Mahajan and the district collector Radhakrishnan B could not be reached for their comments. However, senior district officials pointed out that the district administration has decided to have few more rounds of deliberations with the agitating farmers to resolve the issue.