Aarey Colony tribals fear for their homes

With the construction of the Force One headquarters in Aarey Milk Colony going on in full swing, residents, including tribals who have been residing there for more than 150 years, have begun to feel jittery.

Ankush Bhoir, a resident of Keltipada – a Malhar-Koli dominated tribal hamlet of nearly 85 families located inside the colony – is livid.

“After promising compensation of land for land and home for home about 18 months ago, there has been no communication from the officials. And now we see this construction happening.

We do not know anything about what is going to happen-whether or not we will be asked to move out. We have documents which prove that our community has been staying in these forests since 1862,” said Bhoir.

Biju Agustine, a resident of Aarey Colony and a member of the ALM, said, “Our concern is that the forest should not be lost to the project. We are not opposed to it coming up in Aarey Colony.”

Shramik Sanghatna president Prakash Bhoir was a member of the nine-member committee, which was formed to ensure proper rehabilitation of those, likely to be affected by the project.

He said, “The committee is dysfunctional now. They haven’t got back to us about rehabilitation measures. There is a lot of uncertainty about it. And their construction work continues unabated. If the clearance has been given despite violation of norms, it is baffling.”

Shiv Sena MLA Subhash Desai had raised the issue in the state assembly. He, too, is in the dark, about what is happening. “I had written to the former CEO of the colony but got no response and then they have been routinely changing. So, the letter has got unattended, perhaps,” said Desai. When the proposal first came up for consideration of the state expert appraisal committee for Mumbai Metropolitan Region (SEAC-2) in May, it had pointed out the challenges of relief and rehabilitation in the project.