One dead as Pune villagers battle cops over airport land survey | India News

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PUNE: Landowners from seven villages in Pune’s Purandar taluka clashed with baton-wielding cops on Saturday after officers tried to conduct a drone survey for a proposed worldwide airport, resulting in a girl’s loss of life from the alleged motion and accidents to over two dozen folks, together with 18 cops.
Following the violence, the district administration indefinitely postponed Saturday the survey as the problem escalated right into a political controversy. A complete of two,832 hectares is to be acquired for the airport venture, anticipated to be accomplished by 2029. “The administration will decide the next move, which may involve dialogues with the landowners,” land acquisition officer Varsha Landge mentioned.
Tempers had frayed after an 87-year-old lady, Anjana Mahadev Kamthe, died on Saturday amid conflicting accounts on the precise explanation for her loss of life. Anjana was from Kumbharvalan, one of many villages the place the land acquisition is deliberate.
“Anjana always feared she would become homeless. On Saturday, when the administration and police used force, she passed away out of shock. Many of those protesting were women and the police did not spare them,” mentioned Pandurang Sahebrao Memane of Pargaon Memane, one other of the recognized villages.
(Inputs from Alim Shaikh and Prasad Kulkarni)