In one month, Maharashtra witnessed three instances of police firing over three weeks, which coincided with the monsoon session of the Legislature. On Friday, when the session ended in chaos, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and his Deputy Ajit Pawar (NCP) pointed to a planned conspiracy in the latest firing at Mawal in Pune district, in which three farmers were killed. The farmers were protesting against diversion of water from the Pawna dam through a pipeline to the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC).The government initially defended the police action but when television channels aired footage of the August 9 protest, it had no choice but to suspend at least eight policemen, who were seen attacking private vehicles or firing at the fleeing farmers. Mr. Chavan said a high-level inquiry by a retired Bombay High Court judge was ordered and that was the maximum the government could do.
Home Minister R.R. Patil too defended the police and even brought in a twist to the situation, saying the first firing came from a private vehicle. The bullet which injured a bystander was sent for examination. He, however, admitted that the police failed to prevent the protest from turning violent despite a heavy deployment of force.
No excuse
While the government seeks refuge in the conspiracy theory, it has no excuse for the firing sans warning, as local villagers have pointed out. Mr. Chavan, after the Mumbai bomb blasts last month, openly said he wished that the Home department were with the Congress. This time too the Home department has come in for strong criticism. Right from July 25 when the police opened fire at protesters after a truck mowed down Warkaris returning from a pilgrimage on the Jalna-Ambad highway, the Opposition has been clamouring for the resignation of Mr. Patil. Opposition leaders even met the Governor demanding the dismissal of the government.
The Home Minister is already under fire for not catching the culprits of the July 13 bomb blasts and the three instances of firing have not helped restore his credibility. That Mr. Patil clearly lacks the authority and capacity to run the sensitive Home department is the feeling not only in the Opposition but also in the ruling Congress and Nationalist Congress Party circles. The Congress is concerned that the party's image will be tarnished especially since many local bodies elections are slated for this year and the next. Mr. Ajit Pawar has a stranglehold over Pune, of which he is the guardian Minister and also over the Home department, political observers feel. That is why Mr. Pawar is the target of the Opposition parties which are demanding accountability on his part, while accusing him of masterminding the firing to cow down the agitating farmers.
Mr. Ajit Pawar has, however, washed his hands of the issue, saying the project to bring water to Pimpri-Chinchwad was discussed with the locals and it even had the support of the local Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiv Sena leaders. He said the government had gone out of its way to give farmers compensation, which the farmers are contesting. He put the ball in the BJP's court by accusing it of instigating violence and giving him a bad name.
The government is answerable for the repeated firing incidents and the Mawal incident, whatever the provocation, has been widely condemned. If the government knew beforehand that there was bound to be violence, the question arises: why was it not prevented? The incident also raises the larger question of land acquisition, taking people into confidence before implementing a project and providing adequate compensation. The farmers at Mawal have repeatedly been subjected to land acquisition first for the Mumbai-Pune expressway, the Pawna dam and now for the water pipeline.
Bharat Patankar of the Lokabhimukh Pani Dhoran Sangharsha Manch, a coalition of NGOs, says the government failed to implement promises made to the people whose land was acquired for the dam. They were promised jobs in the PCMC but the offer has not materialised. Water had been diverted but the farmers had little assurance that they would get supply for agriculture.
The government has promised to construct Kolhapur-type weirs downstream of the dam but people say they have to be built first before the pipeline project gets under way.
The larger issue of water use in the State is not debated. In August last year, Dr. Patankar led a Statewide agitation to protest against the government's amendment to the Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority Act, which sought to legalise diversion of 53 tmc (thousand million cubic feet) to industries, remove the provision of public hearings for projects and take away the principle of equitable distribution of water for drinking, agriculture and industry. Though the Chief Minister later declared that the State would give priority to drinking water and agriculture, this promise was not reflected in the Act. Farmers fear that priority will be given to drinking water at the cost of agriculture.
Dr. Patankar says cities too must recycle and reuse water, and getting water from dams does not come without responsibility.
After the furore over the amendment, the Water Resources Ministry headed by Mr. Ajit Pawar was targeted by farmers for favouring industry.
Instead of seeing conspiracy, the government should do well to take farmers into confidence and give them rights where it is due, apart from sprucing up its Intelligence and Home departments.
