Navi Mumbai: Uran Panchayat Samiti member Kavita Rupesh Patil has urged Raigad District Collector Kishan Javale not to allot 37.515 hectares (92.70 acres) of govt land at Mauje Punade in Uran taluka to Bochasanvasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Trust for constructing a university.Patil, a member of Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), submitted a memorandum seeking to retain the land for local use. She said local self-govt bodies should be consulted before village land used by residents is allotted to an institution.According to the memorandum, local tribal residents have cultivated vegetables and other crops on the land for years to earn their livelihood.Patil said the land could be allotted to tribal residents for agriculture and allied activities.She said Punade villagers also required the land for village expansion. A playground and botanical garden could be developed there because a dam is nearby, while a dumping ground could help address waste disposal problems in the eastern region, she added.Patil informed Javale that villagers had opposed govt order allotting the land to Swaminarayan Sanstha. She said Uran Panchayat Samiti had passed a resolution at its monthly meeting opposing the policy and asked the Collector to submit a report to govt recommending that the land not be transferred.Shiv Sena South Raigad district chief Surendra Mhatre and taluka deputy convener Rupesh Patil said the administration should reconsider its decision of allotting the land which is required for the local villagers.*
