Warli tribe in Mumbai objects to construction of Shivaji museum on land they live on https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/mumbai/warli-tribe-in-gorai-object-the-construction-of-shivaji-museum/article67680883.ece January 02, 2024
They fear they will lose their homes and forests in Gorai to urban construction projects, and that this will open the floodgates to other urban construction
On June 5, 2023, the Maharashtra Department of Tourism announced the construction of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj War Art Museum across 136 acres of land in Gorai with a budget of Rs. 50 crore. The boundary wall of the museum is being constructed, and a few houses have been demolished.
The Warlis say the land sanctioned for the museum is their land that they have been dependent on for generations. Asmita Kolekar from Birsa Munda Pada, said the Adivasi community is against all kinds of urban projects built to bring tourists at the cost of the tribals. “We have no objection to the museum, but it should not be built on our land,” said Ms. Kolekar.
In 2011, the Bombay High Court had rejected MTDC’s tourism proposal to construct hotels and resorts in and around Gorai and Manori villages. The court had declared in the judgment that these places were ecologically sensitive, and had disallowed construction, said Gayatri Singh, senior advocate, Bombay HC, who had filed a public interest litigation then. “Now, the Warli tribe and fisherfolk are in the process of filing an interim application against this project,” she said. Rajendra Bhosale, Collector, Mumbai Suburban said, “If tribal communities are practising agriculture on sanctioned land, they will not be displaced or affected by such projects.”
Mumbai has 222 Adivasi padas (tribal hamlets) of which eight are in Gorai. The rest are scattered across portions of the Aarey forest, Film City, Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Madh Island, and along the north and western coast.