By Umang

Santosh Jayvant Jagtap stands on the edge of his home in Bhagyanagar village in Maharashtra's Sangli district, pointing to the sugarcane field behind his house. Soon, the Shaktipith Expressway will pass through it.

"I have three brothers and together we will be losing 45 acres of land. The road will divide our leftover land into two parts, taking away the area where we grow sugarcane. One side has our pipeline, the other is where we cultivate. The land with the pipeline will remain useless."

Jagtap's family is among dozens of families in Bhagyanagar and Nevari villages of Khanapur taluka whose farms fall along the finalised alignment of the Shaktipith Expressway. The six-lane, greenfield expressway is planned to connect Wardha to Sindhudurg.

The alignment has changed since the project was first approved in February 2024, when the proposed expressway was about 802 km long. Land acquisition faced opposition from farmers, particularly in Kolhapur, and the initial notifications were cancelled ahead of the November 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections.

In April 2026, the state government approved a revised 856.7-km alignment, adding Satara to the route and raising the estimated cost to Rs 1 lakh crore. In June, it issued final notifications for the revised alignment and began fresh joint surveys and land measurements.

In Bhagyanagar and Nevari, the alignment has since been finalised and drone surveys completed, though construction has not begun.

Most families in the two villages depend on agriculture and grow sugarcane on irrigated land. In Nevari, 40 farmers are expected to be affected, with 28 set to lose nearly half their land. In Bhagyanagar, 18 farmers face similar losses.

Divided farms

The expressway will not only take away portions of farmland but also divide some of the land that remains.

Dattatraya Maruti Jagtap expects to lose 3 hectares of his 18-hectare holding, but the proposed road will also split his remaining land. Chandrakant Yashwant Jagtap has a total holding of 33.28 hectares, of which 31.66 hectares are set to be acquired, leaving him with about 1.62 hectares.

In Nevari, Vikas Mahadik's family invested Rs 1 lakh to develop a well and pipeline system to irrigate their sugarcane fields. The proposed expressway will pass through the cultivated portion of his land, leaving the well and pipeline on the other side of the road.

"We spent a lot of money on this well and pipeline and now it seems like it will all be wasted. The land we use for farming is the part that will be under the road. Our family's only income comes from farming. We have two children who depend on the farm."

For such farmers, the effects of the project may not be limited to the land acquired for the road. Wells and irrigation pipelines could be separated from the fields they serve, while reaching some of the remaining farmland could require longer routes.

Why this law

Villagers and farmers' organisations claim that the Shaktipith Expressway is being acquired under the Maharashtra Highways Act, 1955, rather than the central Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (LARR Act).

They claim that the two laws differ in the compensation and protections available to landowners, including their rights to consent to and object to land acquisition.

Umesh Deshmukh, Maharashtra state president of the All India Kisan Sabha, said he believes the use of the 1955 Act limits the rights available to affected farmers compared with those under the 2013 Act. He also claimed that Gram Sabha resolutions opposing the project are not legally binding on agencies such as the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) under the 1955 Act.

The Maharashtra government and MSRDC's response to these claims could not be confirmed for this story. The 101Reporters could not get a response from the authorities on the law being used for the acquisition.

Villagers' objections

Residents of Nevari and Bhagyanagar held Gram Sabhas in April and May 2026 to discuss the expressway alignment and record their objections.

At the April 27 Gram Sabha in Nevari, attended by 153 residents, villagers said about 708 acres of land would be acquired for the project. The meeting resolved to oppose the expressway and formed a committee to submit its objections to the Sangli district administration and other state authorities.

Villagers also alleged that authorities had not followed the required process of informing residents and publishing the Panchasutri, or five principles, before finalising the alignment. They questioned the need for the highway, saying the temple it is intended to connect already has road access and alleging that the project would primarily benefit industry.

On May 22, around 300 residents attended a Gram Sabha in Bhagyanagar. Villagers said they had previously lost land to a dam project and could now lose about 137 acres to the expressway. They also said the current alignment had been shifted to Bhagyanagar after opposition from other villages.

The Bhagyanagar Gram Sabha opposed the project and called for work to be stopped. Farmers also objected to drone surveys being conducted after the meeting without prior notice to the Gram Panchayat. They said they had not received a response from the administration.

The administrative response

Bhagyanagar currently has no elected Sarpanch, as the elected body's term has expired and elections are yet to be held. An Administrator manages the village's routine affairs. In Nevari, Deputy Sarpanch Rajaram Mahadik has been involved in the village's opposition to the project.

Sangli District Collector Mainak Ghosh said his role in the survey and acquisition process was administrative. "I only give permission for the measurement and survey because my signature is needed on those documents."

On farmers who may want their land returned rather than receive monetary compensation, Ghosh said the matter would have to be decided through the legal process. On land left fragmented by the expressway, including cases where wells or irrigation systems could be separated from the fields they serve, he said the government could acquire the remaining land and provide compensation, but did not say whether it would do so.

Deshmukh said MSRDC has to follow government directions on surveys and other project-related work. Sources close to the project claimed that the state government had not instructed MSRDC to stop work after receiving the Gram Sabha resolutions from Bhagyanagar and Nevari. The 101Reporters could not independently verify this claim.

Push back

Residents and sources said the current alignment through Nevari and Bhagyanagar was itself an alternative to an earlier route through other villages in Sangli district. They said the earlier route was dropped because it ran parallel to the existing Ratnagiri-Nagpur highway and faced opposition from residents of the affected villages.

Farmers in Nevari and Bhagyanagar have continued to oppose the current alignment. They have submitted objections to the district administration, held village meetings and approached local elected representatives. Villagers also gathered to prevent survey teams from conducting drone surveys.

This article was originally published in 101 Reporter under Creative Common license. Read the original article.

[AR]