‘Third Mumbai’ will be built over our dead bodies, says former judge and activist B.G. Kolse Patil

“A ‘Third Mumbai’ will be built only over our dead bodies,” social reformer and former judge B.G. Kolse Patil has said. Addressing a farmers’ meeting, he asked the attendees to take this oath while opposing the Third Mumbai project that is underway in Maharashtra’s Raigad district. The meet was organised on Sunday (June 7, 2026) by the Raigad-based organisation, MMRDA KSC Navnagar (Third Mumbai) Virodhi Samiti.

“Today our fight is on another level. Earlier judges did their job, lawyers did their job, and the police did theirs. The political leaders in power are shameless, “ Mr. Kolse Patil said.

Mr. Kolse Patil has led previous movements by farmers and tribals against the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in 2006.

Compensation provisions

The Third Mumbai project or Karnala-Sai-Chirner (KSC) New Town, includes 124 villages and spans a land area of 323 sq. kms. The land is spread across Uran, Panvel, and Pen talukas in Raigad district, and strategically links to Mumbai via the Atal Setu Road. Farmers are agitated over the compensation provisions made by the MMRDA, the authority managing the project.

According to the GR issued in March, the landowners are to receive 22.5% developed land in return for the land sold or opt for compensation in the form of floor space index (FSI) and transferable development rights (TDR).

Farmers’ body representative Sudhakar Thakur addressing farmers in Raigad on June 7, 2026
| Photo Credit:
Snehal Mutha

The speakers at the event highlighted that Raigad has seen many land grab attempts by the Government, which is manipulating farmers into selling their land to benefit conglomerates, contractors, and agents.

Social activist Ulka Mahajan criticised the ruling government, saying “The project has given short shrift to laws; democracy and constitutional norms are missing from the process.”

Pen-based activist Nanda Mhatre claimed that the MMRDA hastily invited the objections but conducted no hearing. “They submitted reports with objections that are convenient to them and left out all the problematic issues,” said Ms. Mhatre.

Samiti representative and farmer Rupesh Patil advised his fellow farmers not to fall prey to inducements that would ruin their homes and ancestral land. “If we sell today, we won’t be able to buy even half a gunta of land. Our land is no more farmland but has become a real estate hub.”