MUMBAI: The Sarvahara Jan Andolan (SJA), an NGO working with tribal communities, on Tuesday said that 21 tribal families at Mhatroli village in Alibag were forcibly relocated from their land in March 2024, a month after Sarojini Narwekar, wife of Maharashtra assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar, purchased 15 acres of land there. The NGO also alleged that the families were threatened into signing documents consenting to their relocation.
At a press conference in Mumbai, Ulka Mahajan of SJA and former IPS officer Sudhakar Suradkar said that the houses of the 21 families were demolished, and they were threatened into relocating to a plot two kilometres away which was inhabitable and owned by a third party. At the press conference, a villager Prema Naik said that four families had been paid ₹ 2.50 lakh each to vacate the land. Lande also denied that 21 families earlier lived on the land, saying that only one family, along with its extended members, used to reside there.
“We have been demanding the registration of criminal cases against those involved. Another villager, Namdev Naik, alleged that the families were threatened into signing the documents. “However, Sumati withdrew that statement eight days ago, saying she had no further grievances. We are recording statements from a few more families living there. There is no question of taking coercive action or threatening families to vacate their old houses.
“Under a January 2017 notification, the government is required to transfer the land to these Katkari community members who had lived there for generations but it didn’t,” she said. “Our signatures were taken on blank papers by a revenue officer, who told us that the new plot of land was being transferred in our names,” she said. Mahajan said that the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission had also rejected the tribals’ plea, but SJA was now seeking a review of the petition. Somnath Lande, police inspector at Mandwa Coastal Police Station, said that no FIR had been registered. “Earlier, the statement of one Sumati Naik was recorded on the basis of a complaint filed by SJA,” he said.
