PIMPRI MUNJE (KUHI TEHSIL): Those at Pimpri Munje, a village of around 50 homes, know that the countdown has begun but are hoping against hope. Surrounded by water since the last couple of months, leaking fishing boats sailing through swamps is the only approach to the village.
The water can deepen with the level of Gosikhurd dam going up, but the locals are reluctant to shift at the rehabilitation site provided by the government. They struggle to hold on to the place which is now an island. Despite the hardships, living off the land which has been taken away for the project remains a source of income for many.
The oustees find their comfort zone in the village which is getting marooned as compared to resettlement area where they claim that the facilities are poor.
On Monday afternoon, the power connection was snapped on orders of district collector Ashwin Mudgal so that oustees are forced to leave. The supply was restored a few hours later. Last week, an attempt by the district administration to evict them failed. Officials are gearing up to clear the village in a week.
Pimpri Munje, which TOI visited on Tuesday, is among five other pockets in the area where oustees are holding out despite rising water levels.
With the government likely to knock their doors any day, the residents said they will protest any move to forcibly evict them. A resolution has been passed by the panchayat that they should be granted Rs25 lakh per family or a job.
On this,
Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC) officials said that there was a provision to grant a job or cash compensation. The latter has been already paid. As the angry villagers threatened to jump into the river if they were forced, some of them meekly asked if they would be allowed to stay put till Diwali at least.
The sub-divisional officer of Umred and in-charge of the case JP Londhe said that efforts are being made on a war footing and the villages may be cleared in a week.
It’s is a story no different from many other project affected persons (PAPs) of Gosikhurd dam. The villagers whose farms have been acquired for the project have already exhausted the money received as compensation, a decade ago. For majority of them, the farmland which has been already acquired but still available as it did not submerge under the dam water, remains to be the source of income.
The official side is that they have no choice but to leave. They have been allowed to use the acquired land on humanitarian basis on which the locals have no right as all their dues have been cleared.
A majority say they could not buy new land with the compensation amount and are depending on the same holdings which have been taken over long ago. Being shifted to working as farm labourers would be the only option, though some also have milch cattle which earns a decent income.
For last two years, VIDC could not increase the level due to a litigation by another village in Bhandara district. With a ruling in its favour, VIDC is going ahead with plans to hike the level, which will bring Pimpri Munje land under the Wainganga water, and locals will have to move.
Vinod Bhoyar, a village elder and member of the block council, said, “Almost 80% of the land which was bought by VIDC has not submerged yet and continues to remain under the locals’ possession. Life would not be as comfortable once we move out of here. At least we can till our farms now,” he said.
Bhoyar got around a couple of lakhs for his farms which is less than a hectare, apart from other assets like his home in 2007. It was not enough to buy a new farm. Even in those days, farmland in the nearby areas cost nothing more than Rs1.5 to 3 lakh an acre, he says. He will be left landless after shifting from Pimpri Munje.
Many others came up with similar stories. Suresh Ramteke said his three-acre farm was acquired for Rs2 lakh, out of which one acre has been submerged. He continued to till the remaining patch. Sudhakar Sahare, who was better off than others with 28 acres, now stares at a loss as part of his field with standing crop was submerged some days ago.
Bhaurau Kharkar, in his seventies, was an exception who moved the court and got his compensation doubled to Rs9 lakh. For that, he had to shell out a lakh to the lawyer. The family has purchased a land at Bhandara district. “Not all can afford the lawyers’ fee,” quipped others.
Officials added that apart from the land cost, which may have been less, they eventually got an amount ranging up to Rs5 lakh a family under a special grant. It might have been enough to buy another land.
The locals admitted to having got another tranche ranging, claiming that it was still not enough to buy land against land.
Other marooned villages face same fate
The water level of Gosikhurd dam stands at nearly 243m with plans to take it to 245m by next year
Like Pimpri Munje, there are five other villages where people are marooned and yet not leaving
The five villages include Gond Pimpri, Umri, Damni, Pauni
The areas need to be evicted entirely so that the water level is hiked and taken to the optimum level of 245m
This will take the dam’s
irrigation potential to 2.5 lakh hectares, which is the optimum level
A week ago, Kharad a neighbouring village, was cleared with people being evicted on boats
Such villages are surrounded by water by at least three sides
However, the collector has issued orders to snap power in 51 villages so that the adamant PAPs leave
Sources said with majority remaining in the five villages including there are small populations in 64 villages spread in Nagpur and Bhandara
