Maharashtra: No concrete plans for invisible road; watch video

Donrsquot use Google Maps to get to Karambali Thakurwadi and Kadai Dhangarwada in Raigad district The tribal hamlets are located 103 km from Mumbai in Khalapur Tehsil and though Google Maps may show a smooth blue ride there is no road on ground In its article titled Aakhri Rasta dated May 19 2024 midday had highlighted that the invisible road exists in government recordsDonrsquot use GoogleMaps to get to Karambali Thakurwadi and Kadai Dhangarwada in Raigad district The tribal hamlets are located 103 km from Mumbai in Khalapur Tehsil and though Google Maps may show a smooth blue ride there is no road on ground mumbainews newshellip pictwittercomTszax1ykkZmdash Mid Day mid_day July 28 2024And here in the midst of the mountains living on the hillock is lifethreatening Many of the tribals supply milk to the villages below daily and then climb up with provisions on their heads often accompanied by their livestock and dogs Each step is a slide two to three steps down and the constant rain dislodges large rocks and causes landslides The 55km stretch becomes more treacherous after dark when wild creatures venture out Snake bites are common as is falling into ditches and skidding ldquoOur nearest main road is at Donvat 105 km awayrdquo says Santosh Ghate of Kadai DhangarwadaHersquos speaking of the road that goes from Donvat to Ujaoli village of which a fivekm stretch is usable But from the road from Ujaoli to Karamabali Thakurwadi and Kadai Dhangarwada villages another 55 km is missing It firmly exists though on government records and is also assigned a village road number ldquoIn monsoon the entire stretch is mucky So we canrsquot risk using twowheelers Walking is the only way in and outrdquo says Yeshwant Made a 23yearold from the Karambali Thakurwadi villageMany tribal residents of Karambali Thakurwadi and Kadai Dhangarwada carry canisters down the slippery slope every day to supply milk to the villages belowIn the recent past two members of the Ghate family from Kadai Dhangarwada village had a neardeath experience Khanu Ghate 49 fell into a ditch on his way home from work as he climbed the slippery stretch and his nineyearold daughter was bitten by a poisonous snake Khanu who works as a casual labourer said ldquoOur demand for a road has not yielded any result till nowrdquo On July 6 Raigad MP Sunil Tatkare held a highlevel meeting with district officials from different departments and raised serious concerns about the GoaPanvel highway and the status of roads to 38 tribal hamlets in his district ldquoThe MP directed Raigad police to register FIRs against errant road contractorsrdquo said an official present in the review meetingHe explained that 500 metres of the proposed road for the two hamlets passes through private land and some stretches fall under the Forest department ldquoThe landowner is not willing to release his rightsrdquo he added ldquowithout compensation and land acquisition powers are vested with the district Collector Various government schemes including the Thakkar Bappa scheme allows construction of internal and connecting roads using bitumen or concrete roads but for that we require land without encumbrancesrdquoSo it all comes down to who has the sanction and the requisite might to twist the required arms for the road to come true It falls upon the zilla parishad to acquire the private stretch of land and the District Collector to negotiate the compensation ldquoAs per our records 38 to 39 hamlets in the entire district have no road connectivityrdquo says Satyajit Bade additional chief executive officer zilla parishad Raigad ldquoThough funds are available some land parcels are privately owned while some are with the Forest department Unless the Block Development Officer BDO gets a freehold land parcel nothing can be done To acquire the private land we can only forward a requisition to the District Collectorrsquos office as those powers rest with the Revenue departmentrdquoThe Forest department says it has received no request for an NOC for road construction while the Khalapur office says they have pushed the file ldquoI pushed the proposal file to higher authorities and it has come back to me without approvalrdquo Rajendra Pawar range forest officer Khalapur says ldquoI have not received any proposal concerning Karambali Thakurwadi and Kadai Dhangarwada or anywhere elserdquo says Rahul Patil deputy conservator of forest Alibaug ldquoIf it is sent to me I will do the needful provided it concerns Forest landrdquoTill then the villagers risk their life every day as it is quite possible that they will not see the road this monsoon ldquoIn a recent meeting with tribalsrdquo said Santosh Thakur founderpresident Gram Sanvardan Samajik Sanstha ldquothe tehsildar and Forest officials passed the buck to each other as they have been doing for the past three years A portion of the land is private and till today they havenrsquot acquired it for the tribal welfarerdquo According to him the maximum financial limit for road construction under Thakkar Bappa Scheme is only Rs 14 lakh ldquoAnd here we have to construct a 55km stretch of road which will cost much morerdquo he says Thakur has threatened to move a PIL in the Bombay High Court if local administration fails to resolve the issueBut there is also another story brewing The two hamlets fall under two different gram panchayats Karambali Thakurwadi comes under Kahariwali gram panchayat and Kadai Dhangarwada under Kanav gram panchayat Last month the Kahariwali gram panchayat had written a letter to the landlady Indira Manish Shah 76 requesting her consent NOC for allotting a small portion of her privately owned land for road constructionManali Mhase gram sevak at Kahariwali Gram Panchayat confirmed to midday about the letter to Shah in June 2024 Mhase said ldquoOur Deputy Sarpanch Sushant Vichare will be holding a meeting with members of the panchayat in the coming week to appraise them about his willingness to meet Indira at her Mumbai residence I will also accompany the team and we will request Shah to allot us the 500 metres approximately 15001600 sq feet of her land for road constructionrdquoHighly placed sources from the district administration informed midday that the range forest officer Khalapur had written a letter to the Panchayat Samiti Group A on July 1 2022 copy with this paper raising queries pertaining to road connectivity till Karambali Thakurwadi The copy of the said letter was also marked to gram sevak Kahariwali gram panchayatNilesh Khillare deputy engineer zilla parishad Karjat confirmed the same According to Khillare while most of the queries raised by the forest department compliance has been done the NOC from the private land owner is still awaited The 500metre approximately 1500 to 1600 sq feet private land coming in way of the road construction for the tribal hamlets is a part of around 44 acres of private land owned by late Manish Lakshmidas Shah 86 a resident of Versova who was into land dealing business He passed away on April 3 2023 According to Rajendra Pawar 62 a caretaker working for Shah for over 40 years his late boss has a family wife Indira Shah and two childrenShah was into a business of buying and selling of land He had bought around 300 acres of land between 1976 to 1980 in and around Kahariwali gram panchayat and other neighbouring gram panchayats in Khalapur Tehsil He sold a major part of the land bank over the period of time At present only 44 acres of land parcel is left According to Pawar Manish Shah received a letter from the Kahariwali gram panchayat on August 28 2022 intimating them about the need for 500 metres of land for road construction At that time Shah was not in good health and could not respond to the letter Pawar said ldquoWe are in the process of completing legal formalities to transfer the properties in the name of Indira Shah We have no problem in giving NOC It is for tribal welfare and we have no objection to giving the samerdquoPawar also said ldquoOn April 30 2024 a year after the Manish Shahrsquos death Indira Shah wrote a letter dated April 20 2024 to the Gram Panchayat in response to their letter of August 28 2022 expressing willingness and consent to give a NOCrdquo However the Shahs recently received another letter a few weeks ago from the Kahariwali Gram Panchayat Pawar said ldquoIt seems they have not received the letter written by Indrani Shah on April 20 and dispatched on April 30 I will be visiting Khalapur and will personally hand over the copy of the letter and will also get a new letter made from Indrani Shah on her return to India early next weekrdquo When asked if they had demanded any money as compensation against the land Pawar answered ldquoIf the land is getting acquired by the district administration we do not mind getting paid as per the government rules but at the same time we wonrsquot hesitate to donate our NOC for tribal welfare work like road construction as it is only a small portion of landrdquo