WITH THE state government pushing for the implementation of the long-pending ring road in Pune district farmers of Haveli and Bhor taluka have launched a hunger strike outside the tehsil office to protest against the construction of ring road, which requires the acquisition of their farmland.
The villagers said that the protest will continue with five villagers of each affected village sitting at dharna every day and will follow covid-appropriate behaviour.
“We have submitted memorandum to various government offices and political leaders. However, there is no response from them. If the demands are not met then the tehsil level protest would be taken up at district headquarters and then at the state level,” said Yogesh Mangale Ranje, representing Samast Ring Road Badhit Shetkari.
He said the demand is to cancel the project and if the state government wants to go ahead with it then they should plan it on barren land. The road should have a maximum width of 36 meters as against the existing 110 meters as proposed by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) for the 170 km stretch, he said.
A total of 2,300 hectares of land of 38 villages is required for the project and the land acquisition is expected to cost Rs 5,000 crore. The project will be developed in two phases – east and west.
The state government has made a budgetary provision of Rs 26,000 crore for the development of the ring road to divert traffic passing through the city.
A large number of vehicles from Konkan, Marathwada, North Maharashtra and other cities of western Maharashtra that enter the city can take the new route once it is operational.
