Fishermen and other allied communities from different villages in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Ahmednagar districts located on the banks of the Jayakwadi dam marched to the district collectorate on Tuesday to register their protest against the floating solar power plant at the dam.
Accusing the authorities of not keeping their promise and continuously pushing for the project, the fishermen said they would fight tooth and nail to ensure the solar power plant does not see light of the day.
“After talks with the local authorities, we had given them a month to scrap the project. Despite giving an assurance to look into our demand, different authorities are pushing for the project. The solar power plant is going to snatch the livelihoods of 2 lakh people,” Sachin Pandav, one of the leaders of the fishermen community, said.
According to local fishermen, the central authorities have asked for installing a pulling station as part of the floating solar power plant at Mauje Katpur in Paithan taluka of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district. They also claimed that tenders have been floated for appointing a firm to prepare a feasibility report as a precursor for the solar project.
“We are also waging a legal battle against the project. If the government does not mend its ways, we will intensify our protest,” Somnath Limbore, another leader, said.
Brainchild of Union minister of state for finance Bhagwat Karad, the floating solar power plant at the Jayakwadi dam allegedly falls in the core area of the bird sanctuary.
Conservationists and nature-lovers have also been vehemently opposing the project maintaining that it would badly affect the resident as well as the migratory birds.
Considered as home for 234 species of resident and migratory birds among other creatures, Jayakwadi bird sanctuary is spread over 341.05 sqkm in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Ahmednagar districts.
Divisional forest officer Mohan Naikwadi could not be reached for his comments on the fresh protest by the fishermen as he did not respond to calls or text messages.