Pandurang Shinde of Shindewadi in Maharashtra’s Kolhapur district owns just 20 guntas of farmland, barely half an acre. “If it is taken away, what will we feed our children and cattle?” he asked. “If the government doesn’t listen, I will bring all my 20 buffaloes to the administrator’s office.”
Shinde is one of thousands of farmers across the state who are pushing back against the Shaktipeeth Expressway, an 856-km, six-lane greenfield corridor planned to run from Pavnar in Wardha to Patradevi in Sindhudurg on the Maharashtra-Goa border. The government approved a revised alignment on April 1, 2026, but far from settling the controversy, the revision has only deepened it.
Expressway with troubled history
Originally approved in February 2024, the project ran into trouble almost immediately. By October 2024, the initial land acquisition notification for Kolhapur district was cancelled following sustained farmer protests. The revised alignment reroutes portions of the expressway across six districts and introduces a new 40-km stretch through two villages in Satara.
The changes have pushed the total length from 802 km to 856 km, and the project cost from roughly Rs 80,000 crore to Rs 1 lakh crore. The expressway now passes through 13 districts and 40 talukas, connecting 21 religious sites, including the major Shaktipeeths at Mahur, Tuljapur, and Kolhapur. Around 8,760 hectares of land will need to be acquired.
The government says the corridor will slash travel time between Nagpur and Goa from 18 hours to 8 hours, linking central and western Maharashtra to the coast. Farmers’ pitch is equally straightforward: they want none of it.
‘Development should not dig graves for farmers’
Much of the land in the project’s path is fertile, high-yield agricultural land, cultivated for sugarcane, vegetables, and other cash crops, particularly in Kolhapur, Sangli, and Satara, among other districts. For small and marginal farmers, losing even a portion of this land is a catastrophe.
A woman farmer from Male village in Panhala, Kolhapur, says, “My land has been cultivated for centuries by my ancestors. We lived in poverty but survived on kharda-bhakri just to save our farmland. Now, if it is acquired, we will lose everything. Who will give their daughters to marry our sons? We don’t want compensation, but our land.”
She also questioned the project’s idea. “Devotees have been visiting these sacred places for centuries without an expressway. Why is the government suddenly in such a hurry to build one now?”
Another protesting farmer said, “A significant portion of the land is used for sugarcane, vegetables, and cash crops. Most farmers in Kolhapur are marginal landholders. If even one or two acres is lost, our livelihood is finished.”
The concerns are not limited to those whose land falls directly in the project’s plan. “Even those whose land is not being acquired are protesting”, a farmer said, “because if fertile land is lost and a massive road is built, the ecological damage will be disastrous and may aggravate floods during monsoon.”
Thousands march, surveys blocked
In Kolhapur, thousands of farmers marched from Dasara Chowk to the district collector’s office, joined by politicians including NCP (SP) MLA Jayant Patil, former MP Raju Shetti, and Congress MLC Satej (Bunty) Patil, among others.
Satej Patil alleged the project served no real public interest. “It is meant only to benefit contractors and officials,” he said. He also sought to remind the government of a public assurance made by then chief minister Eknath Shinde that the Shaktipeeth highway would be scrapped in Kolhapur district. “It is his responsibility to fulfil that promise,” the Congress leader said.
Jayant Patil questioned the government’s financial priorities. “The government cannot complete existing projects, yet it wants to spend Rs 1 lakh crore on this. Shaktipeeth should be cancelled,” he said.
Raju Shetti said, “Development should not be carried out by digging graves for farmers. Why is Rs 1 lakh crore needed for 856 km of road?”
In Sangli, the resistance turned violent. When revenue officials launched a drone land survey in Khanapur tehsil, beginning at 5 am in the villages of Chikhalhol and Bhagyanagar, women farmers blocked the operation and forced officials to stop. Despite a heavy police deployment from 4 am, the survey was halted. “We will not let our land be taken. We will give our lives if necessary, but not our land,” the women said.
Shetti, who later joined a separate protest march at the Vita tehsil office on Wednesday, alleged that police were deployed as early as 2 am. “Why are they surveying at 3 am without any notification?” he asked.
Two ecologically sensitive zones
Beyond the economics and the emotion, leaders, farmers, and environmental groups have raised structural questions about the project. Political leaders like Satej Patil, Raju Shetti, and others argue that the Nagpur-Ratnagiri National Highway makes a parallel expressway redundant. Environmental concerns have also been raised, given that the route cuts through parts of the Western Ghats and the Konkan region, two ecologically sensitive zones.
Farmers and opposition leaders protest against the Shaktipeeth Expressway in Kolhapur on Tuesday. (Express Photo) 
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