Tribal villages in Aarey Forest, Mumbai Subarban, have no electricity 72 years after freedom

By A Representative
Naushacha Pada, an old Adivasi village of Aarey Forest, as also other villages within the precincts of the Mumbai Veterinary College, Goregaon East, have no electricity even 72 years after India's Independence. Noticing this, a social activist Cassandra Nazareth, has begun an online petition, addressed to district collector, Mumbai Suburban, Sachin Kurve, says, she noticed this when she visited the village as part of a Swacch Bharat & Open Defecation Free campaign.
"Even though the village is a stone’s throw from the bustling Western Express Highway of Mumbai and in spite of there being a tar road with street lights within touching distance of the Adivasi huts, the Adivasis have no electricity", petition said, adding, This glaring injustice shook me. Visits to the many other Adivasi villages of Aarey Forest showed the same pattern."
She says, "The Government quarters were electrified, whereas the indigenous Warli tribes, living in the Aarey forest for generations, were in the dark. The 100-year-old Vanicha Pada has an unused electric substation set up 2 years ago, yet today, the village has no electricity", adding, “'We need a No Objection Certificate from the Government' is what Reliance Energy told me, as being the reason for not granting power connections to these villages."

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