A jan Sunvai (public hearing) will be held at the Maval tehsildar’s office on June 27 to probe into complaints against celebrity Bollywood farmers, District Collector Prabhakar Deshmukh announced here on Saturday. “Any farmer from the area can come up with a complaint against misuse of land and our officials will conduct an inquiry after hearing the issues,” he said.The Maharashtra Rajya Dharan Prakalp Grahasta Shetkari Parishad had appealed for a thorough inquiry after Bollywood personalities staked their claim to the land they had acquired by declaring they were farmers by birth. Parishad general secretary Baba Adhav said there was a need for a judicial inquiry into the issue.“How much of farming do they do? What kind of papers have they produced to acquire the land, he asked? According to the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1948, a farmer has to use the land for agricultural purposes. An Act under the agrarian reform stands violated blatantly,” said Adhav.The parishad plans to spread the word in the area so as to get farmers to speak up on June 27. “When we spoke to the farmers, many felt they had been cheated into land deals by estate agents who worked for the Mumbai parties. They were given a small sum for large areas of land,” he said.
