Palghar tribal rehabilitation has received a fresh government commitment, with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis assuring project-affected tribal communities that long-pending issues related to land, basic amenities and employment will be addressed. Fadnavis made the assurance on Friday while handing over land records certificates to project-affected persons in Palghar district.
The chief minister said development projects would have little meaning if people living on the land were displaced without receiving rehabilitation, jobs and a share in the benefits generated by development. He said the government was committed to providing project-affected persons with proper rehabilitation, infrastructure, basic amenities and employment opportunities.
“If we make the original inhabitants of this land landless and do not give them a place in the development process, it will not be development but destruction,” Fadnavis said at the gathering in Palghar.
According to the chief minister, people displaced by various projects over the past 30 to 50 years have faced prolonged hardship, with several rehabilitation matters remaining unresolved. He said the government had formulated new rehabilitation standards and was working to address pending cases arising from earlier policies.
Fadnavis also said villages where displaced families had been resettled must receive proper infrastructure and essential facilities. Employment, he added, would be a central part of the rehabilitation process. The government’s stated position is that the benefits of development projects should not be limited to people from outside the region, while local residents remain excluded from jobs and economic opportunities.
“The benefits of development projects should not go only to people from outside the region. Residents must also get jobs and a share in the prosperity generated by such projects,” he said.
The assurance places land documentation, resettlement infrastructure and employment at the centre of the state’s response to project-affected persons in Palghar. The handover of land records certificates is significant for families whose claims and resettlement arrangements have remained unsettled over several decades, although the statement did not specify the number of certificates distributed or the projects covered.
Fadnavis said the government aimed to make Palghar one of Maharashtra’s five most developed districts. He linked that goal to the inclusion of tribal communities, poor households, farmers, agricultural labourers and women in the development process. He also referred to the principle of inclusive development and said the gains of development should reach more than a limited section of society.
Recalling the hardships faced by families relocated decades ago, the chief minister said many had been left without adequate facilities after displacement. He assured residents of Hanuman Nagar and Chandra Nagar that the government would work to improve their conditions. The statement did not provide a detailed timeline for resolving individual rehabilitation claims or specify the administrative process through which pending cases will be reviewed.
