Fishermen families displaced by JNPT have threatened to stop movement of ships from January 21 as they have not been compensated. Displaced Kolis have been living in a transit camp, Hanuman Koliwada, for 40 years. Suresh Damodar Koli, head of the village reforms committee, said, “Our only demand to implement promises made to resettle us as per government norms.” He said JNPT had agreed at meetings with Union minister Nitin Gandkari, deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and others to resettle project-hit on 17 hectares in Dronagiri, for which Rs 6.2 crore had been committed.
The then Raigad district collector had filed an affidavit on May 2, 2017, with Lok Ayukta, promising to allot the land for Sheva village displaced families, Koli said. In all 256 families had been displaced from Sheva, but now they have increased to 600, Koli said. JNPT was to train project-hit and give them jobs. Now, the fishing community is being denied its legitimate, constitutionally guaranteed right to fish, he said.