Click to play videoMumbai: In the first-ever referendum to decided the fate of a Special Economic Zone in India, farmers of Pen taluka in Raigad district of Maharashtra voted against an SEZ with an overwhelming majority.
"Whatever may be the package, whatever may be the price of the land and whatever may be the inducement offered by the company, we are not willing to part with our land," anti-SEZ activist ND Patil declares.
At the press conference called by Raigarh anti-SEZ Committee the words of 80-year-old Patil declares victory.
Of 6,199 the total numbers of forms registered, 5,866 voted against the SEZ and with 24 villages voting against the proposed 3417 hectare SEZ close to 22,100 farmers voted through this referendum. Of this some bore joint holding while some 5,268 were of non-voting entities like banks and societies.
But it could yet again be a Catch-22 situation for the farmers if the state government goes ahead with its decision to declare the entire region a green zone.
Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh had said if the people's verdict is against industry and SEZ then the land can be declared as a green zone, which means the region will not see any industrial development in the future.
"When the government was going to acquire our land and hand it over to the industrialists, then was the intention of the government to declare the land as green zone at that time?" asks Patil.
Even as the farmers await a formal declaration followed by a decision from the state government, they as well as the activists stay determined for a larger agitation if their demands are not met with.
(With inputs from Sumangal Pandey)
(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter and Google+)
displayed with permission. Use of the CNN name and/or logo on or as part of CNN-IBN does not derogate from the intellectual property rights of Cable News Network in respect of them.