Affected by Kashyapi, tillers want aid from CM

Nashik: Farmers affected by the construction of the Kashyapi dam have sought the help from the Chief Minister in receiving the not-yet-paid compensation for their land that were acquired as well as for getting jobs in the municipal corporation as promised by the state.
The tillers from Devargaon presented CM Devendra Fadanvis a memorandum of their demands while he was on a day-long tour to Nashik city on Wednesday.
The farmers have been demanding that they be given appropriate compensation for the land acquired by the government for the construction of Kashyapi Dam which provides water to the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC). They have also sought jobs in the civic administration to the landless farmers.
The farmers, who have been repeatedly visiting the collectorate, the Nashik Municipal Corporation office, the office of Kadwa Irrigation Division and the Nashik Irrigation Division have failed to get justice.
"In 2014 the lower courts had ordered the Water Resources Department (WRD) to give fair compensation to the farmers whose land was acquired around 1995. But since the WRD had contested the decision, it has paid the current amount with the court and the court will release it only if we can give solvency certificates up to 90% of the value. We don't have enough penny to match the 'solvency' norm and hence we have urged the chief minister to intervene," Somnath Monde, who is spearheading the agitation for the farmers' cause, said.
The farmers have also claimed that 60 beneficiaries were committed jobs in NMC, of which only 23 have been given jobs in 1997 and the rest are yet to be accommodated as promised.
"We have presented legal documents with to the government officials a number of times but neither the WRD nor the NMC has paid any heed to our requests," Monde said.