Click to play videoRaigad: The Board of Approvals on Wednesday cleared 15 SEZs but left Mukesh Ambani's Maha-Mumbai SEZ hanging.
Now it seems there is more trouble ahead for the project. Villagers in the area are using a mix of technology and red tape to keep their land.
Song against SEZ isn't sweet music to the ears of Reliance Industries. Note by note, it is mobilising opinion against the company's 10,000 hectare Maha-Mumbai special economic zone, across the talukas of Pen, Uran and Panvel in Maharashtra's Raigad district.
"We will not give our land come what may," said one villager.
"We will teach lessons to the government," said another villager.
Another villager said, "This is all eye wash what will we eat if we loose access to land and sea? We don’t need this type of development."
Not just music, technology is being used for mobilising farmers. Images of their homes from Google earth are a big draw.
From folk music to satellite images – all is fair in love and war. And for the villagers of Pen, this is a war to save their land and their general is SEZ Virodhi Sangharsh Sameeti founder Arun Shivkar.
Shivkar is using a government clause, which says irrigated and cultivable land cannot be acquired for SEZs, to the advantage of the farmers.
Entire villages in Pen have acquired official documents saying their land will benefit under irrigation schemes.
This could leave Reliance with some unenviable options. Prime land in Pen will be dotted with villages, which cannot be bought.
If Reliance wants a big parcel of uninterrupted land, they may have to scout in Panvel, where land is one and a half times more expensive.
And the simple official document in Marathi could put 3,000 hectares of land beyond the reach of the Maha Mumbai SEZ.
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