Tribals’ long march suspended after government accepts demands

Four days after over 30,000 tribals started a 55-km long march to Palghar on the outskirts of Mumbai for their demands like the proper implementation of the Forest Rights Act, addressing the inordinate delays in Jal Jeevan Mission, etc., the protest was suspended on Thursday (January 22,2026). “The discussions were positive. All our key local demands have been accepted. The administration has given us a time-bound assurance about the State-level demands too. Marathon discussions were held with all the concerned officials for over seven hours on Wednesday (Januay 21, 2026). We have decided to suspend the gherao [protest] as the District Collector has given us a written assurance,” Ashok Dhawale, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member and president of All India Kisan Sabha told The Hindu.

Palghar District Collector Dr. Indu Rani Jakhar told The Hindu that the administration took review of the several concerns raised by the delegation. “A committee has been formed to address the grievances and concerns. It will consist of five members from the protestors’ delegation too,” she said.

“We have been tilling the land for so many generations now. But our grandparents never had any papers. Now, we are paying the cost for it. We want the land in our name. The smart meters have inflated our electricity bills. We don’t have tap water in our houses. We have to walk kilometres for some water, and have to use the same dirty water for everything from washing to bathing,” said Nehal Bharat More from Karhe Patilpada in Jawhar taluka, a tribal district of Maharashtra. She said she had left her hamlet on January 19, to reach Charoti from where the long march began. With swollen legs and knees, she participated in the traditional tribal dance outside the Collectorate Office.

With respect to the concerns about land ownership, the administration has promised to take time-bound final action in all the pending claims under the Forest Rights Act, 2006. The protestors had demanded that the land ownership be given jointly to the husband and wife. By April 30, 2026, final decision about the pending 11,464 land claims will be taken, the administration has given in writing. Due to the thousands of pending claims, the tribals are unable to take benefit of the government schemes meant for them, the protestors said.

The protestors had raised concerns about alleged corruption in the Gharkul Yojana which enables construction of pakka houses for the underprivileged people, particularly belonging to the Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes. In the assurance letter accessed by The Hindu, the government claimed that it had not received any corruption complaints in the rolling out of the scheme. It also stated that an allotment of 70,987 houses was done under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana in the current financial year, out of which 22,685 houses had been fully constructed.

With respect to the Jal Jeevan Mission, the administration has revised the deadline and has now assured that work will be completed by December 2026. The Jal Jeevan Mission was envisioned to provide safe and adequate drinking water through individual household tap connections by 2024 to all households in rural areas.

“We demanded the cancellation of the proposed Wadhvan and Murbe ports in Palghar district, granting land ownership rights to farmers cultivating the land, and the cancellation of smart meters, among other things,” a protestor said.

A press statement issued by the CPI(M) and All India Kisan Sabha stated, “In the negotiations with the government, the District Collector took a positive stance on the problems faced in the implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA). She agreed to resolve all pending FRA claims by April 30, 2026, and issued concrete orders to that effect. It was also decided that the lands of the many farmer claimants who received much less land than they were cultivating should be physically inspected by government officials on the ground. At the same time, it was agreed to take time-bound action to register landlords’ lands, temple lands, inam lands, government lands, pasture lands and benami lands in the names of the actual tillers. A committee, chaired by the Additional District Collector and including five leaders from the CPI(M) and the Kisan Sabha, was immediately formed for this purpose. The State government will soon enact a law regarding temple and inam lands, and the draft of that Bill was given to the Kisan Sabha.”

A government release said, “The Palghar District Administration successfully concluded a constructive dialogue with community representatives today. The discussions provided a platform to review the sustained and systematic work being undertaken by the administration across key areas of public interest, including land rights, social welfare, and service delivery.”