Agri community to hold protest on Feb 8 against Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train

The Agri Sena Wednesday announced that it would block a section of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway in neighbouring Palghar district on February 8 in protest against the Bullet Train Project. The Agri Sena wields clout in some pockets in the coastal Thane, Raigad and Palghar districts of Maharashtra.

The 'Agri' community members are mainly engaged in fishing and rice farming activities. The Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail corridor is an under-construction high-speed rail line connecting the country's commercial capital Mumbai with Ahmedabad in Gujarat.

Sections of farmers in Thane and Palghar districts are opposing acquisition of their land by authorities for the project. "This project should be scrapped as it would adversely affect the landless and the project-affected farmers in the tribal belt," Agri Sena president Rajaram Salvi told reporters in a press conference.

Listing out a number of "unfulfilled" demands, Salvi said thousands of people from villages in Palghar and Thane districts will participate in the 'rasta rokho' agitation at Shirsad on Friday. He said a motorcycle rally would also be taken out in which 10,000 people are expected to take part.

Salvi also opposed the Maharashtra government's move to convert wetlands into residential zones. He also demanded that the state government declare the entire Palghar district drought-hit.

(With inputs from agencies.)