Phursungi farmers up against special zone

As many as 13 families who own around 35 acres near the SEZ zone have not sold their land to the developer.

“We want the SEZ to come up on a continuous stretch and not block access routes of those farmers who are not giving up their land,” said Nilesh Pawar,a farmers’ representative. “The officers visited the site and promised us that they will not give a go-ahead till our issues are addressed.”

DS Kulkarni,chairman of the DS Kulkarni Group,however,said that there was no such issue. “We have 250 acres with us now and we do not want more. So the farmers can be rest assured. If they want access routes I will hear them and resolve the problem.”

According to Pawar,many stretches within the zone were agricultural land and the farmers should be given the permission to cultivate their land. They alleged that the company had blocked the irrigation canal near their farmland. “This was done,perhaps,because the farmers did not part with their land. They cannot do this,” said Pawar.

Processing zone
The 250-acre multi-services SEZ in Phursungi is meant to be a ‘processing zone’ equipped with an industrial and product design studio,gaming and animation studio and engineering unit. Information technology,biotechnology and financial institutions will also be included,apart from banking and insurance firms,and a diamond processing unit.