22 villages set for first ‘referendum’ on SEZ

Of the 24 villages that come under the proposed SEZ, 22 will participate in the referendum. These are villages that will get water from the Hetawane irrigation project which will be ready in a year.

While Revenue Minister Narayan Rane, whose Ministry handles land acquisition, said the referendum was Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh's idea, Raigad collector Nipun Vinayak said not all villagers are satisfied with the compensation and there were demands to keep these 22 villages out of the project area. The official package is Rs 10 lakh per acre plus a permanent job or an additional payment of Rs 3 lakh plus 12 per cent of the land or an additional payment of Rs 5 lakh.

“To take into account the demands of landowners in these villages, we placed public notices and we are now seeking people's opinion,” Vinayak told The Indian Express. “We have sought the opinion of the state Irrigation Department about the potential of the land. We expect the entire exercise to be completed in 10-15 days after which we will submit the report to the government.” Asked about the petition today, Vinayak said: “Yes, they have filed a petition and we will be filing our say.”

About 3,417 hectares of the land that Reliance wants to buy is irrigated. The problem of land acquisition is also compounded by the fact that the over 75 per cent of the landowners own less than one acre of land.

In every village, titleholders of the plots will walk into polling booths and submit their votes to the election officers -- six in each village and of the rank of Tehsildar -- orally or in writing. Those who do not want to vote for or against the SEZ may choose the third option of “neither of the above.”

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