Villagers briefly stop construction of Delhi-Mumbai Expressway stretch in Dahod district

Representation pic

A group of villagers in Gujarat's Dahod district briefly stopped the construction work along a stretch of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway on Tuesday over their long-pending demands like compensation for crop losses and alternate roads to reach other villages.

Following the protest in the afternoon at the expressway stretch near Zalod town in the tribal-dominated district, sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) AK Bhatia and other officials rushed to the spot and assured villagers to look into their demands and address them.

After the assurance, the villagers ended their protest. According to Bhatia, a survey has already been conducted covering 14 affected villages of Zalod taluka to ascertain the loss of property and crops due to the expressway, which is under construction, passing through that region.

"A survey of 14 villages of Zalod, which are affected due to the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, has already been carried out. I have assured the villagers that the government is ready to bring about a solution and provide facilities as demanded by them," the SDM told reporters.

The villagers claimed the highway project has resulted in waterlogging in the region. Due to waterlogging, crops as well as several houses in these 14 villages were damaged. The local residents are demanding compensation for the loss of crops as well as houses.

Their other demands included construction of an alternate road and a bridge near the expressway, repair of internal roads damaged due to the project, restoration of electricity and drinking water connections, compensation for uprooted trees and construction of a new crematorium as the existing one was demolished for the project.

"We have been fighting for justice for the last three years because we are deprived of basic facilities due to this project. Authorities had conducted a survey in the past too, but nothing happened after that. Thus, as part of our protest, we came here today and stopped the construction work," said Mukesh Dangi, a leader of protesters.

"We ended our protest after the SDM gave us an assurance that he will convene a meeting of stakeholders on Thursday to bring about a solution. We will relaunch our agitation from Friday if the government fails to meet our demands," warned Dangi. The expressway is a 1,350 km long, eight-lane wide highway connecting the two key Indian cities of Delhi and Mumbai.

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