Village boycotts poll to protest tree felling

Kolhapur: None of the 2,195 voters of Balgavde village in Tasgaon tehsil of Sangli stepped out to cast their vote for the zilla parishad and panchayat samiti election on Saturday. The reason was the felling of 5,500 trees for a solar power plant against their wishes.For the past few months, residents of Balgavde village have been protesting in one way or another and even planned to approach the National Green Tribunal against the rampant tree felling to clear 9 hectares of land for the privately funded Mukhyamantri Saur Krushi Vahini Yojana 2.0, aimed at providing daytime power supply to agricultural connections. Some of the young residents even observed a fast, which ended after four days, after the local representatives assured them they would address the concern. The village also suggested alternative land for the project. The villagers claim the trees had been planted 15 years ago, and they had nurtured every tree to get a forest-like cover. A few days ago, the village panchayat unanimously decided to boycott the ZP and panchayat election and every election in the future. They stayed firm as both polling booths remained deserted all day, with the polling staff sitting idle, waiting for voters to come.Shrikant Mohite, former deputy sarpanch of Balgavde village, speaking to TOI, said, "Every villager believes they were betrayed by the administration and political representatives, and therefore, as a last form of protest, we decided to boycott the election. After our fast ended, the tree felling was carried out under police protection. It was against the spirit of the gramsabha, which passed the resolution objecting to the tree felling."On polling day, to convince people, Tasgaon tehsildar Atul Patole visited the village. Patole said, "I tried to convince them. Voting is their right; they should exercise their constitutional right. When the issue was brought to our notice, we held 4 to 5 meetings and tried to resolve their doubts."Balgavde village comes under the Manerajuri ZP constituency and the Savarde Panchayat Samiti ward. The villagers claimed that, except for an NCP candidate, no other candidates turned up to listen to their grievances.