Melauli locals demand to withdraw the cases against protestors

Residents of Shel - Melauli in Sattari Taluka have launched an agitation, demanding the land allotted for the IIT project to be denotified.

Villagers protesting in front of Guleli Panchayat have not ruled out the potential of reigniting the anti-IIT agitation.

On December 9, the villagers submitted a memorandum to the panchayat, requesting detailed information on the criminal proceedings brought against the protestors as well as the land issue. The panchayat had agreed to furnish the information by December 12 but had failed to do so.

Shashikant Sawardekar, convenor of the Melauli Panchkroshi Gram Bachav Andolan, accused panchayat members of failing to carry out their duty. " Only a peon and panch members are present in the office. We don't know where the rest of the members are. They should face us and answer all our questions," he said.

He further stated, that unless the whole matter is not investigated, the government should not see an end to our agitation.

Melauli villagers had demanded the government should take back the possession of 1.5 lakh sq. m of land that was transferred for the IIT project.

Shubham Shivolkar, deputy co-ordinator of the Panchkroshi Gram Bachav Andolan Committee, said that the government filed a criminal case on 40 protestors during the agitation,

"The villagers have made demands to withdraw these cases. However, the government has not conceded to these demands. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and Health Minister Vishwajit Rane should resolve it immediately without playing with our sentiments, otherwise, the matter is going to be difficult for them," he said.

The administration had decided to set up an IIT project at Melauli. However, after six months of agitation against the project, the government revise its decision and scrapped this project in January earlier this year.