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dam-l LS: 85-yr-old dam-displaced farmer sets himself ablaze

85-yr-old project-affected farmer sets himself ablaze

                                         EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE


                         SATARA, JANUARY 30: Displacement and debt 
drove 85-year-old farmer Kisan Ramu Pawar to his death at Kaloshi 
village in Satara district on Saturday evening.

                         Pawar, who was involved in a protracted legal 
battle for productive land after the Kanher dam submerged his 
ancestral property, set himself ablaze on the rehabilitation office 
staircase here. He was taken to the civil hospital with 100 per cent 
burns where he died Sunday morning.

                         The farmer, who left home on Saturday 
afternoon on the pretext of visiting his daughter in Baratgaon, tied 
his legs together before dousing himself with kerosene and setting 
himself on fire, according to police.

                         According to Satara Superintendent of Police 
Suresh Khopade, Pawar said in his dying declaration that he was 
bankrupt and unable to support his family.

                         Tension prevailed in Satara on Sunday, with 
people from Kaloshi refusing to claim Pawar's body, demanding action 
in the incident. Tempers ran high as the deceased's relatives 
complained that the local police threatened to shift the body for 
cremation immediately. Minister of State for Rehabilitation  Ramraje 
Naik Nimbalkar has ordered an inquiry into the incident.

                         ``It was unfortunate. The State Government 
has taken serious note of Pawar's death,'' Nimbalkar, who hails from 
the parched but sugar-rich Satara district, told The Indian Express. 
The minister also assured the bereaved family of `proper action'.

                         Pawar was given two acres of land under a 
rehabilitation package at Kaloshi village in Koregaon tehsil of 
Satara after his ancestral property in Kanher Chinchani was submerged 
by the Kanher dam in the early 1980's.He even took an agricultural 
loan. However, a court ruled in favour of the original landowner, and 
officials gave Pawar another piece of land which turned out to be 
barren and aggravated his debt burden. The loan, which originally 
amounted to Rs 9,000 had increased to around Rs 30,000, said Pawar's 
family members.

                         Ever since the Satara Krishna Valley 
Development Corporation was formed,the district has witnessed major 
irrigation-related activities. The State had pumped in around Rs 
12,000 crore in the valley in the wake of the May 31, 2000 deadline 
of the tripartite Krishna water-sharing award.

                         Project-affected persons (PAPs) of several 
small and medium projects in the valley have been demanding `fair 
rehabilitation'.

                         The BJP has come down on the approach of the 
rehabilitation machinery towards PAPs. The party's liaison MLA for 
SataraGirish Bapat sought the resignations of Naik Nimbalkar and 
Rehabilitation Minister Vilasrao Patil Undalkar, who too is from 
Satara.

                         Timely action on part of the rehabilitation 
machinery could have saved Pawar's life, Bapat said.


                         Copyright ) 2000 Indian Express Newspapers 
(Bombay) Ltd.