The vast expanse of paddy fields lining the horizon in 22 villages of Pen tehsil in Raigad wore a deserted look on Sunday as an overwhelming majority of villagers poured into the streets to be a part of the landmark referendum on the Maha-Mumbai Special Economic Zone (SEZ). By evening, 6,151 people had taken part in the referendum, the first of its kind in the country and the results of which could swing the fate of several such agitations all over the nation.

“Hee zameen sona ugavate (These fields sprout gold),” said 73-year-old Balkrishna Patil as he tottered to the polling booth clutching a paper marking his protest. “My one acre land, for which today they are offering Rs 10 lakh, has sustained generations before me and will take care of generations to come. Even if they offer Rs 2 crore, I won’t part with it,” he asserts.

The decision to seek people’s votes was taken by the Maharashtra Government in the wake of a local agitation against the Mukesh Ambani promoted RIL’s proposed 10,000 hectare multi-product SEZ. Covering a span of 45 villages in Raigad, it is touted as the largest SEZ in the country. The 22 villages that went in for voting on Sunday are spread out over 2,992 hectares in the command area around the Hetawane dam, villages that are seeking exclusion from the project.

Raigad Collector Nipun Vinayak however differed on the rhetoric. “It is not correct to call it voting. We have recorded 6,151 opinions. These are amongst the 30,057 villagers whom we had served notices earlier . It will take us another 15 days to analyse the data before we can send it to the state government,” he said.

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