Within Thane district, Kharegaon and Parsik have around 78 properties. These constitute 1,42,392.11 square metre of space, which will be in the name of the state government.
The state government is set to seal around 1.42 lakh square metre land in Retibunder. The decision comes after the Bombay High Court's rejection of a petition filed by sand dredgers in Thane on Thursday, seeking a stay on government action which, they said, would affect their livelihood. They had also staged a protest in Kharegaon last month against the state's decision to seal some of the areas in Retibunder.
Within Thane district, Kharegaon and Parsik have around 78 properties. These constitute 1,42,392.11 square metre of space, which will be in the name of the state government.
Due to unauthorised construction in these areas, Thane district collector Ashwini Joshi had asked the tehsildar to conduct an inquiry. Port officials inspected the area and found illegal structures developed in these regions close to the creeks. The encroachers, however, had submitted a property certificates, saying they were allowed to build such structures. But on close inspection it was found out that the registration of the property certificates was not legal. Hence, the tehsildar had asked the city survey officer to send a proposal via the district superintendent of land records to cancel the certificates.
Thus, records of these places were surveyed, Kharegaon in 2006 and Parsik in 2004. It was then brought to light that the land was in the name of the central government, but illegal private ownership was also declared. The city survey officer had then asked the deputy superintendent of land records for permission to allot these places again. The issue was solved after port officials from Thane and Kalyan gave notices to 51 encroachers to prove the ownership of these areas. After they failed, the port officials confirmed details of collecting fees from the sand dredgers for mining in these areas.
Dashrath Patil, who had filed the petition, said, "This has been happening for decades. Even during industrialisation, acres of land was up for acquisition and it was the sons of the soil who had to give up their land. This led to many companies being shut down and unemployment increasing... due to the bad economic situation, many were deprived of education as well. Since then, problems have been piling up. Hence, we want the government to understand our problems."
Thane district has nine ports — Mumbra, Parsik, Kolshet, Waghbil, Nagla Gaimukh, Ghodbunder, Kevnidive, Kasheli and Kalher. State government's decision is not only expected to affect the livelihood of many sand dredgers, but also result in shortage of basic construction material, thereby causing rise in real estate prices. The shortage of sand will also encourage illegal mining in the creek and riverbeds in several places.
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