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Stop land sale for Mumbai SEZ: Raigad farmers

MUMBAI: Farmers in Raigad district have demanded a stay on the sale of land for the Mumbai Special Economic Zone (MSEZ) promoted by the Reliance group.

In a letter sent to the Commerce Ministry on Friday on behalf of the farmers, the Committee against Globalisation said the notification by the Maharashtra government on the land acquisition must stop. The committee referred to an August 9 letter from the Commerce Ministry, which said the maximum size for the MSEZ in Raigad should not exceed 5,000 hectares. In spite of this, the company was buying land “recklessly.” It was not specifying the area of the SEZ and how much of the land acquired was earmarked for the MSEZ, the committee said.

Vaishali Patil of the committee said that initially 14,000 hectares was to be included in the MSEZ of which 11,000 hectares was agriculture land and the rest government land. Now that the area had been restricted, there had to be a clear demarcation.

The District Collector, in a letter dated September 5, 2007, asked the company for the specific area and villages that comprise the 5,000 hectares to be acquired for the MSEZ. The administration temporarily stopped private sale of land and signing of Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) between the farmers and the company.

However, on October 17 the Collector issued an order to the Sub-Registrar of Pen, Uran and Panvel to re-start the sale of private land and MoUs. The committee demanded that the Ministry exempt these 22 villages from the project, and stop private sale of land until the SEZ was approved.

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Stop land sale for Mumbai SEZ: Raigad farmers

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