Sons of soil now rocks Navi Mumbai

The storming of the CIDCO office at CBD Belapur, by project affected persons and subsequent disruption of the tendering process for sale of kiosks outside Sanpada railway station has once again brought to fore the simmering discontent among the bhoomiputras or the sons of soil.

With their lands acquired and traditional means of livelihood becoming redundant, the bhoomiputras have been demanding preferential treatment in employment opportunities and contracts.

Even as a sizeable number of bhoomiputras continue to lag behind in the development process, there is no denying the fact that their assertions have further cemented the negative perceptions about the community, while increasingly arraigning them in confrontation with the rest of the society.

On Monday, an enraged crowd of 100 men barged into the CIDCO Bhavan and disrupted the tendering process for 88 galas outside the Sanpada railway station.

The mob was enraged over the failure of the CIDCO administration to reserve galas for the PAPs of Navi Mumbai.

“The CIDCO administration had assured to reserve some galas for the PAPs, whose land was acquired by the corporation to build the satellite city,” Shiv Sena leader and Navi Mumbai corporator Somnath Waskar said.

Following the agitation and destruction of the tenders submitted for the galas, CIDCO was forced to call for fresh tenders.

The lack of skills required to survive in an increasingly competitive environment and stereotyping has led to denial of jobs to the bhoomiputras, forcing them to fight for the few unskilled jobs available or eye contracts.

On July 17, 72 workers, mostly house keeping staff retrenched by the Palm Beach Galleria mall, supported by Shiv Sena stormed the shopping complex to protest against the mall management’s decision. Sena has been demanding more jobs for local youths at the mall.

“The retrenched workers, most of them from Navi Mumbai, just have basic education. If outsiders start competing for the jobs like house keeping, etc, where will the locals go,” Shiv Sena Navi Mumbai unit vice-president Manohar Gaikhe said, commenting on the labour issue at the mall.

Even as employment opportunities increase, with Navi Mumbai becoming a hub for the new economy industries, the city has nothing substantial to offer for illiterate or unskilled workers, besides construction jobs.

With industries increasingly seeking more skilled workforce, which has new ways of thinking, managing and working and employers seeking youths with personal attributes and skills, the chances of bhoomiputras, who demand jobs as a matter of right, are less. Result frustration and discontentment thrives.

Even though the PAPs were assured of jobs in industries and CIDCO, the mass of the local populace continues to be unemployed.

With registered manufacturing activities moving away from Mumbai-Thane-Belapur belt and unregistered manufacturing showing a decline in Thane and Raigad, as pointed out by a CII study on “Livelihoods, Employment & Sustainable Development”, the rate of unemployment, especially among bhoomiputras has shot up.

“The number of unemployed has increased, with several factories including the Standard Alkali closing down, while the number of dependants in each family has increased,” Ghansoli Congress leader Deepak Patil informs.

Desperation had forced local populace to compete for jobs, as head load workers, which was opposed by Mathadi workers, one of the reasons cited for the Ghansoli violence.

Besides the competition from people from other parts of Maharashtra, the bhoomiputras are being severely undercut by migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, who are ready to work for half or even paltry amounts, Patil claims.

Having failed to keep pace with the changing requirements of the labour market, the “attitude problem” of Agris has further made them unattractive for the labour market.

“They indulge in dadagiri and there have been instances when they have attacked managers. Absenteeism and alcoholism are also rampant, which have helped build a negative image of the locals,” human resource manager of a prominent pharmaceutical company said.

The consistent exploitation of bhoomiputra argument, even against Marathis, has created a negative stereotype about the community.

“When Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport (NMMT) launched bus services to Taloja, the local auto-rickshaw drivers opposed it, claiming that it would hamper their livelihood.

At the Woodland company in Kalamboli, when 50 contract workers were laid off, the workers and their leaders demanded that salary of other workers be reduced and paid to the laid-off workers”, a highly-placed police official said.

The problem is much more obvious in areas of the satellite city outside the Navi Mumbai corporation limits.

Though business establishments have been quick to reach a compromise with the project-affected persons or political parties espousing their cause, they express exasperation in private.

“As many as 80 per cent of the staff employed at Palm Beach mall comprises of local youths. We cannot reserve jobs for youths on the basis of street and roads,” a senior Palm Beach mall official said.

Experts opine that if income disparities persist and locals lag behind in the development process, it could explode into another Ghansoli-like riot, which rocked the city last year.

Unless long-term corrective measures are resorted to increase the employability of the bhoomiputras, the situation would continue to simmer, experts feel.