Vasai-Virar villages don’t want to be urban

The fight against drafting 53 villages into the Vasai Municipal Corporation (VMC) does not seem to be united anymore.

With a resolve to keeping their rural character intact, these 53 villages found support from all political parties to be excluded from being part of the Vasai Municipal Corporation.

With the objective clear, a movement under the banner Gaav Vachva Jan Andolan Samiti to be headed by local MLA Vivek Pandit was formed. Now, there seem to be fissures in this outfit.

Leaders in the campaign feel the villages will in fact benefit if they are included in VMC. Marcus Dabre who has been in the forefront of Harit Vasai campaign along with Pandit has come out in favour of the elections, which the villagers were otherwise planning to boycott.

“We are very backward; there is no development that has taken place here. Our gutters lay open, there are no decent roads to ride even a cycle, forget a vehicle. The people are scared of gram panchayat officials and several people don’t even pay their taxes; we are in a state of anarchy. I am in support of getting the villages included in the corporation we will get funds and loans to better our conditions,” said Dabre.

The urban development ministry has issued a notification asking for objections and suggestions from inhabitants of the 35 villages that supposedly want to be excluded from the VMC.

“I’ve issued a notificiation under the Mumbai Regional Act for 35 villages in this Vasai belt. We have initiated the process regarding exclusion or otherwise, and this will take time. The issue remains regarding 18 villages,” said Bhaskar Jadhav, minister of state for urban development.

“We had demanded all 53 villages be excluded from the municipal corporation. But since only 35 villages are being notified by the government, we want to boycott the elections,” said Sameer Vartak, Youth Congress general secretary.

Vartak blames Pandit for not taking the villagers into confidence. “Vivek Pandit went and met the chief minister; he needs to address the people and tell them about the issues. The people are not aware of what transpired at the meeting.”

When DNA spoke to Pandit, he said: “We believe in the Constitution and the rule of law. We will participate in the coming elections to show our mandate on this issue. We are clear that all 53 villages have to be excluded from the VMC jurisdiction.”

The rest of the leadership is confused about this comedown. If there is no boycott of elections, it is like being co-opted into the civic body and urbanisation of the villages.

The elections will take place on May 30 and 31.

Leaders like Manvel Tuskano and Marcus Dabre say they do not have the capacity to sit on a fast every second day to protest the inclusion of the villages. The fact is there is total clash of leadership.

“Pandit is acting on his on his own whim. We have not been consulted and others must realise we can’t do rasta roko, sit on a fast every second day. The people are getting sandwiched in this leadership issue,” said Dabre.

The churning has led to a local Shiv Sena leader Nitin Mhatre joining Congress last week.

The leaders say former legislator Hitendra Thakur who wields considerable influence in the Democratic Front government was instrumental in quashing the exclusion of 18 villages.

The government officials told this correspondent that the issue has become a personal fight between Pandit and Thakur.

“It was brought to our notice that there is a tussle between the two leaders and exclusion of the villages has become a prestige issue between them. The government does not wish to get drawn into it,” said Jadhav, the minister.

There is immense confusion at the ground level. The villagers are not aware of the future of their villages.

The fact is while the notification calling for their objections has been circulated, elections in 89 wards to the VMC have been declared.