THANE: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis told a delegation of villagers from Vasai led by Shiv Sena leader and former MLA Vivek Pandit today, that he had witnessed them struggle to save their villages, by excluding these from the Vasai-Virar Corporation limits.
According to a release issued by Pandit, the CM assured the Vasai Jan Andolan Samiti delegation led by him that he would look into the matter. As part of the Vasai Jan Andolan Samiti led by Pandit, the Vasai residents had met the CM to discuss the Maharashtra state government's stand on the ongoing court case between the state government and the Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation, the release said.
They explained the current status of Vasai's villages to Fadnavis and told him about the latest developments in the court case, the release said. When judgement was about to be reached in the case, the lawyer representing the Maharashtra state government took a stand exactly opposite to the stand taken by the state government for four years, the release said.
The release said that for four years, the Maharashtra state government was firm in its stand that 29 villages would be excluded from the Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation. The release said that it was in 2008 that the state government included 53 villages in the newly formed Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation, after which villagers from these villages started an agitation under the Vivek Pandit-led Vasai Jan Andolan Samiti.
After two years of agitation, the Maharashtra state government changed its decision, taking into account Vasai villagers' sentiments and excluded 29 villages from the Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation, the release said. However, the Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation challenged the Maharashtra state government's decision in the Bombay High Court, the release said.
After four years, when the court was to deliver its judgement, the state government's lawyer suddenly changed the earlier stand that Vasai's villages would not be included in the Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation, the release said. The Maharashtra state government's lawyer told the court that the state government had reconsidered its earlier decision, and this development had shocked Vasai residents, the release said.