Sea route to JNPT blocked

300 villagers from Hanuman Koliwada arrested

Uran, 26 (Correspondent) : In view of repeated moves by the central government in the case of Hanuman Koliwada rehabilitation in the taluka, fed up fishermen blocked the waterway of JNPT today (26th). As hundreds of boats blocked the road for almost four hours, the Navi Mumbai police were in a huge rush. Finally, the police detained the protestors and removed the boats. Police arrested around 300 people in connection with this protest and later released them.

The issue of resettlement of Hanuman Koliwada located on the coast of Uran has been raging for the past 37 years. But no one found a place for rehabilitation,

Uran: Hanuman Koliwada villagers blocked the sea route by going into the sea

MP Sunil Tatkare appealed to NCP President Sharad Pawar on behalf of the fishermen. Then these two leaders followed up with Union Shipping Minister Mansukh Mandaviya in Delhi regarding the issue. In the meeting held in Delhi at that time, Mandaviya assured the delegation that Hanuman Koliwada will be rehabilitated as per the government rules.JNPT has 17 hectares of land. But only 6 hectares of land was given due to demand. This has created dissatisfaction among the villagers.

The Village Welfare Committee of Hanuman Koliwada had alerted the JNPT administration on January 21 to block the passage of ships coming to JNPT as the issue of rehabilitation and providing jobs was not resolved.However, Shivraj Patil, Deputy Commissioner of Police of Circle Two, intervened and had promised to come up with a solution within 36 days. After this, JNPT Chairman Sanjay Sethi Sanjay Sethi offered only 6 hectares of land near Phunde village for rehabilitation. Due to repeated fraud and having their hopes dashed, the irate villagers went into the sea on Friday and blocked the passage of ships.

Why the movement?

Government officials and villagers inspected Mauje Funde, Sector 15 on 25 February; However, there was no solution. Despite the demand of the villagers, only six hectares of land was allotted to them. Defying the repression by the police, the villagers set their boats into the sea.