Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has promised land, rehabilitation, basic infrastructure and employment support for tribal communities displaced by development projects in Palghar, saying development cannot be considered successful if local residents are left landless or excluded from its benefits.
Fadnavis made the assurance while addressing a gathering in Palghar during the handover of land record certificates to project-affected persons (PAPs). He said the state government was committed to resolving long-pending rehabilitation issues affecting families displaced by projects over the past 30 to 50 years.
“The government is committed to ensuring project-affected persons receive proper rehabilitation infrastructure, basic amenities and employment opportunities,” Fadnavis said, according to PTI. “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.”
The Chief Minister said the government had formulated new rehabilitation standards and was working on unresolved cases arising from earlier policies. He did not provide details of the standards, the number of affected families covered, or a timeline for completing the pending rehabilitation process.
Fadnavis also said villages where displaced families had been resettled must receive adequate infrastructure and essential facilities, along with access to employment. His remarks place the condition of resettlement areas at the centre of the rehabilitation question, rather than treating the transfer of land or housing alone as a complete solution.
The issue is significant in Palghar, a district where tribal communities and agricultural households have been affected by development pressures and land-use changes. For project-affected families, rehabilitation involves more than relocation. It can also determine access to records, public services, livelihoods and the economic opportunities generated by projects constructed on or near their original land.
Fadnavis said the benefits of development projects should not accrue only to people from outside the region. “Residents must also get jobs and a share in the prosperity generated by such projects,” he said, according to PTI. The statement did not identify specific projects, employment programmes or mechanisms through which local hiring would be implemented.
The Chief Minister further said the state government wanted to make Palghar one of Maharashtra’s five most developed districts. He added that this goal would not be possible unless tribal communities, poor residents, farmers, agricultural labourers and women were included in the development process.
He also addressed residents of the Hanuman Nagar and Chandra Nagar areas, assuring them that the government would work to improve their living conditions. Fadnavis said families relocated decades ago had endured prolonged hardship and promised that their period of difficulty was coming to an end.
The next stage will depend on how the government applies its revised rehabilitation standards, resolves cases originating under older policies and delivers infrastructure, amenities and employment in resettlement areas. The address did not specify the administrative milestones or deadlines for these measures.
