Angry farmers from Juni Piparhi, Chicholi and Sahuli, under the Gosekhurd rehabilitation zone, planted paddy saplings directly on a waterlogged road on Thursday (July 23) to protest against the Gram Panchayat and Zilla Parishad’s continued failure to fix the route, which turns into deep mud every monsoon despite repeated appeals.
Piparhi village was resettled in 2005 under the Gosekhurd project, but not all its farmland was relocated — 250 to 300 acres remain in the old village, roughly 8-10 km from the resettled site. As a result, around 70-80 households still live in old Piparhi rather than commute daily. Residents of Sahuli, Chicholi, and villages across the river including Navegaon and Awarmara also use the same road, which has seen no repair work since 2000, predating the resettlement itself — a 26-year-old problem.
Villagers say bullock carts and tractors carrying farm produce have overturned in the mud, and schoolchildren from five villages must wade through slush for 3 km to reach school in Kondhi. Zilla Parishad member Prem Wanve has periodically patched the road with murum at his own initiative, though it falls under the jurisdiction of two ZP members. Villagers, naming several protest leaders, have warned of intensified agitation if the road isn’t rebuilt.
Farmer Bhau Katore of Juni Piparhi said 36 of the village’s original acres went to the project, leaving only 8, and that produce is frequently damaged in the mud while being ferried out; he called his self-funded murum repairs an unsustainable stopgap.
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