Contributions of Shri. Dada Patil to the Wang-Marathwadi Dam Project Relief

As far as dams are concerned, India ranks third globally with around 5264 large dams in operation. In addition to this, there are several thousand smaller dams. Dams play a vital role in ensuring the water security of any country. Although all of this is true, these dams and reservoirs also have a number of social and environmental impacts- one of the most challenging social impact being that of displacement of the native people whose entire families are usually forced to leave their homes and relocate elsewhere. This is why the natives try to protest when it comes to constructing a dam on their land. One such irrigation project that had become the talk of the nation a few years ago was the Wang-Marathwadi dam project.

Wang-Marathwadi medium irrigation project involved the construction of a dam on the Wang river in village Marathwadi, Taluka Patan, district Satara in Maharashtra state. The proposed reservoir was to fully submerge 4 villages and partially submerge 5 villages in the adjacent area. The land acquisition had been accomplished in 1998 for the same. The Government had then assured that the project affected families would be rehabilitated in the 46 villages in Satara district which was the command area of the project. After this, the work of the construction of the dam was duly taken up. Large tracts of the agricultural land thus acquired were used as quarries for the soil required for the dam construction hence rendering them useless for any further cultivation.

The biggest issue or concern was raised from the revolt caused by the project affected families when they were informed that they were going to be rehabilitated to the drought-prone regions of Khanapur and Vita talukas of Sangli district as there wasn’t enough land available for rehabilitation in the command area as promised earlier by the government. The newly assigned area in Sangli district was perpetually draught prone and the agro-climate conditions could hardly support sustenance of a farming household, forget a community. Due to all these reasons, the people of the Wang-Marathwadi dam-affected action committee rejected this offer and demanded that they are given their alternate agricultural lands in the Wang project command area in Satara district as promised earlier.

In 2009, the dam construction project had finally started again after coming to a halt right from 2000 to 2008 due to a number of reasons. The protest and demands of the citizens were suppressed ruthlessly and the first phase of gorge filling was eventually accomplished by the authorities. As a result of this, the lands of the natives got submerged in July 2011. After this horrific experience of 2011, the dam project affected people decided to fight back for the survival of their community. During the rainy season of 2012, they performed a 28 day-long ‘Jal Satyagraha’ during which they were standing in the reservoir’s water. Since the submergence caused due to the filling of the gorge without rehabilitation was illegal, the affected families demanded crop compensation. However, no compensation was ever paid to these families.

On arrival of the next monsoon, the submergence again occurred as expected. The situation only kept getting worse with the Dharana agitation for 17 days and 13 days respectively, being practiced in front of the SataraCollectorate by the natives during which they decided not to consume a single morsel of food unless their demands were met. The then Rehabilitation minister had agreed to fulfil the demands of the dam-affected people but that too went in vain due to the unending involvement of various other politicians in the issue. Finally, all the relief proposals were buried, and people were deprived of what they rightfully deserved once again. The yearly submergence without rehabilitation continued too. The proposal efficiently moved forward only in 2016 when the Government response on the issue finally appeared to be positive. A number of consecutive meetings were held in view of the project affected people and the long-awaited orders were finally issued after a span of 4 months.

The credit for implementing these positive steps in the process goes to the Rehabilitation minister, Shri. Chandrakant Dada Patil. He was of the opinion that the Wang-Marathwadi community dam-affected people had been in great suffering for the past 20 years and had wedged a tough struggle for 7 years which is why the issue needed to be prioritized. He said that they were now set to get rehabilitated in a decent manner and on a path to a new hassle-free life they had long deserved.

Such is the persona of our leader Shri. Chandrakant Dada Patil. He never misses a chance to work for the welfare of the backward classes and the weaker sections of the society who, according to him, need the most attention and care at this stage. He is truly a one-man army himself and will continue to work for the benefit of more such communities who find themselves to be helpless in their hour of need.