The villagers are working in three-hour shifts between 8 am and 7 pm, playing the role of sentry at this point and shouting slogans against the company. Interestingly, there has been no police action against them. “Let them arrest us,” shouts Shantaram Bapu Temghire, former sarpanch of the village, reflecting the mood of the villagers.

The stand of villagers has perplexed N Y Sanglikar, Director, Public Affairs, Dow Chemical International Private Limited, as he believed the villagers were all for the ‘big project’ till a few weeks ago. “These are my people and I know them. They can be easily swayed. This week they may be opposing the project, but the next week they could be supporting it. The company has decided to allow time to win back the confidence of the villagers. But there is no time frame,” he says.

According to Justice BG Kolse Patil, retired judge of Bombay High Court, Justice P B Sawant, retired judge of Supreme Court and social activist Vilas Sonawane, the villagers were swayed by the arguments of the company once, but not anymore. “An RTI has been moved for information on Dow and we are ready to file a writ petition in the High Court for the same,” says Patil.

Meanwhile, villagers have in their hand — what they hope can act as a legal spanner in the project work — the 7/12 extract of the 100 acres where it’s called a ‘gairan’ (grazing land for cattle), which is to be looked after by the village panchayat. “When it was given over by the Government to the company, we were not told about it. No change of ownership has been made in the revenue documents. As on January 10, 2008, the owner of the land where the company is putting up its facility is not MIDC or Dow Chemical,” says villager Genbhau Mengle.

... contd.