Doublespeak dogs Kalyan villages

The Shiv Sena and BJP, alliance partners in the state government, have adopted polar positions on the issue, with the Sena determined to amalgamate the villages with the KDMC. On February 25, Chief Minister Manohar Joshi said at Kalyan, where he was campaigning for the general election, that his government would not give in. “We shall see to that Salvi is given some advice on not makingstatements without consulting us or his party seniors,” he had remarked, when he was reminded that Rajaram Salvi, chairperson of the GSS, had asked villagers to boycott the polls. However, senior BJP leaders are not keen on scolding Salvi, who recently switched sides from the SP to the BJP.

This was evident when Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde visited the area on March 20, along with ministers Sabir Sheikh (whose constituency the villages fall in) and Jagannath Patil (who enjoys an excellent rapport among the local agri community).

“The alliance government will consider your demand for separate status from the KDMC,” Munde had announced. The villagers, though, feel that Sheikh has done precious little to push their case. “The Sainiks cannot be trusted,” says Narya Patil of Wasari village, adding, “they always have different views on state and local-level issues.” Sheikh, who had publicly pledged in Sonarpada to back the villagers’ cause, was booed, with the same villagers meting outidentical treatment to Munde and his entourage recently.

Meanwhile, the CM reiterated his stance in the Legislative Assembly, saying “If we give in to their demand it will set a precedent.” Munde, however, told Express Newsline there were no differences between the alliance partners. He also parried questions on why Joshi chose to time his statements on the villages every time the BJP took a public stand. Salvi, asked whether Shivshahi’ is all about foisting unpopular decisions on people, says, “When the erstwhile Kalyan Municipal Council was bifurcated into separate civic bodies for Ambarnath and Ulhasnagar, it set a precedent.” Interestingly, Thane-based Sena leader Anand Dighe said, “What the CM said in the Assembly was the state government’s stance on the matter.

The CM may get more flexible on the issue after the session.” The villagers, though, are tired of the doublespeak. “I had to go to five different offices located in Kalyan and Ulhasnagar to get a sanction to install a handpump,”says Narrya Bhoir, who says the KDMC has done little by way of development despite regular collection of tax. A tour of the villages reveals that only five of the 27 villages are actually villages’.

The remaining 22 are more like slums, choc-a-bloc with haphazardly-built chawls devoid of water and electricity. In villages like Davdi and Pisavli, which are close to Dombivli and Kalyan, builders have cornered large plots of land and boards announcing sale of flats have been erected everywhere.

Sources allege that a builder lobby is keen on keeping the villages out of the KDMC so that the land they have been plundering remains excluded from the municipal FSI. Sources claim the lobby has been using the GSS as a front to further its own interests. This is a lucrative source of income, which has made parties across the board keep their differences aside and unite under the samiti. Salvi denies this. “Do you think the people claiming to expose us have not benefited,” he asks.