Vadhavan port opponents defy prohibitory order at Varor, clear stones at service road site

Opponents of the Vadhavan port held a civil disobedience protest at Varor on Friday, Gandhi Jayanti, defying the administration's prohibitory order. The protesters reached the site of the Greenfield highway service road work. They alleged that rules were being violated in the work.

The protesters moved aside by hand the stones that had been brought for the service road, registering their opposition to the administration's stand. The protest was held along the Varor-Chinchani road by the Vadhavan Bandar Virodhi Sangharsh Samiti and organisations associated with it. The protesters turned their march towards the spot where the service road work was under way. The area echoed with slogans such as "Jal-jungle-zameen hamara adhikar", "Hamare gaon mein, hamari sarkar", "Ek hi zid, Vadhavan bandar radd" and "Jeetenge, ladenge".

The protesters raised the issue of the prohibitory order covering a 500-metre radius of the service road. They also raised the movement of overloaded vehicles and violations of rules in the road work. By moving the stones by hand, they carried out civil disobedience in the Gandhian way.

Supporting the protest, MLA Vinod Nikole questioned the administration's stand. He alleged that local people are against the Vadhavan port, yet attempts are being made to suppress the voice of the protest. Nikole said the people have the right to raise their voice against repression through civil disobedience based on the ideas of Mahatma Gandhi. He also said the sons of the soil do not want a destructive port.

Police had made heavy arrangements in view of the protest. About 50 police officers and 450 police personnel were deployed. In the blazing sun, fishermen, farmers, orchard growers, dyemakers, sons of the soil, women and youth stayed put at the protest site in large numbers.

Present on the occasion were Narayan Patil, president of the Vadhavan Bandar Virodhi Sangharsh Samiti, vice-presidents Vineet Patil and Manvendra Arekar. Milind Raut, president of the Vadhavan Bandar Yuva Sangharsh Samiti, Girish Raut, district chief of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) faction, and Captain Satyam Thakur, Congress Palghar district president, also came. Ramakrishna Tandel, president of the National Fish Workers' Forum, Jayawant Tandel, president of the Thane District Central Fishermen's Cooperative Society, and Vishwanath Patil, president of the Kunbi Sena, were joined by office-bearers of several tribal and social organisations.

The protest on Gandhi Jayanti brought the demand to cancel the Vadhavan port forcefully to the fore once again.