SAVE RAIGAD


Raigad district is a part of konkan region, Western Maharashtra, India, spread over 7,100 sq. km. area, adjacent to Mumbai.

Strive to make Raigad district more environmental friendly , safe and pollution free. To achieve this goal, we all Raigadite should jointly venture to make this dream come true. Mission impossible to mission possible. This is a open forum for all like minded people to voice their opinions and views concerning Raigad’s current and upcoming events.

Upsurge of commercial sex worker, HIV/AIDS, water and air pollution, malnutrition, etc. are emerging every day to grab our poor society. Flood and landslide during rainy season has become a common scenario in the district. Poor health infrastructure is another challenge, River water pollution has become a chronic menace, leading to multiple health hazards.

A Recent upcoming issue is SEZ, millions acre of agricultural land would get engulfed by SEZ project, this may put our poor farmers in miserable plight, if not protested timely. The initiative taken by some political parties in favor of farmers against SEZ project has made the state government to rethink over their former decision. lagay raho Political Munnabhai.



Raigad, when compare with other district of the state, has lagged behind because of several key issues in the district that have not been addressed by our political peers. A large number of industrial zones in the district could not bring the considerable social and economical reforms for the past two decades, rather it has proved that due to industrial zones, district has become a dumping ground of chemicals and other industrial wastage,

The industrial zones of Raigad is eventually unsafe and created bigger threat to the villagers and the workers existence alike. Since the last five years, hundreds of accident have been reported in Mahad MIDC area.

A recent accident had occurred in Mahad MIDC, reportedly two workers had sustained a serious burns and one of them succumbed to his injuries while taking a treatment at Mumbai hospital. It is learnt that workers had not been provided any safety measures to protect them from injuries in the factory while handling hazardous materials. ( reference: Dainik Sagar Raigad edition dated 10th sept.2006, Konkan Thingi dated 24th sept. 2006)

I want to bring this notice to the state authority and the concerned ministry about the death toll and the sufferings these people undergo . How long will this continue? Are they not playing with the victim’s bereaved families? Where is our fundamental and constitutional rights ?

Other side of the story, witness more complex problems, these chemical factories are well organized for their clannish and smart excuses, other negative effects of this, is the effluents from the factories that have been drained into river, Savitry, hundreds of poor tribal families of this area, depend on fishing, but owing to the pollution of river water, their livelihood has been affected permanently. The river pollution is a major threat in the district. Almost all major rivers have eventually been polluted leading to several hazardous upshot. Even aquatic creatures, specially fish, have also been destroyed due to deadly chemical effluents (reference: Dainik Loksata, dated 12th sept. 2006)


This chemical wastage have leaked out of the pipes, at various places, leading hundreds of acre fertile, paddy fields grossly spoiled. At worse, no adequate compensations was paid to the affected farmers by the factory managements. This chemical effluents has almost polluted all the drinking water sources ( the wells, bore-wells, and other reservoirs) of the villages falling along the pipelines which carries the chemical effluents.

People have also rose up and took to the streets in protests, but all efforts proved to be failed. Even, some local news papers have also raised the issues ,several time, but either it is hushed up or detained by the political intervention. Concerned authority are extremely lackadaisical to redress or sort out people’s grievances. On the other hand, most of the villagers of this area, are poor farmers and they do not get enough time to frequent the offices, meanwhile the problem remains unsolved.

Chemical factories in Mahad are causing a big threat to the people, specially the poor farmers and factory workers. Chemical effluents of the factory are being drained into the Savitry river, at Owale village, just 15 km. away from Mahad.

Please do post your comments. This is your own forum to express your own voice without fear and prejudices. Save Raigad Mission , will surely ensure our own survival one day, if we venture jointly to prevent this thriving threat, to make our district eco-friendly and pollution free.

S P NAVKAR
Social worker & freelance journalist.
spnavkar@rediffmail.com, cell: 9272445189

Comments

Jitendra Nate said…
dear friend

mi jitendra nate
mhasle raigad. sadhya raigad madhun news paper kadtoy.

tumcha profile hatashi lagla. very nice.

pls. contact me
id: jitendranate@gmail.com
cell: 09819602237
http://www.jitendra-nate.blogspot.com/

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