Congress leader Varsha Gaikwad stages protest against land transfer to Adani
Mumbai Congress leader Varsha Gaikwad led a protest on Sunday (June 8, 2025) against handing over the Mother Dairy land parcel in Mumbai's Kurla to the Adani group for Dharavi Redevelopment Project Private Limited (DRPPL).
She demanded to use the land for a botanical garden instead of a rehabilitation project, saying, 'Prime Minister Narendra Modi surrenders when American president Donald Trump calls, why CM Devender Fadnavis surrenders when Modi calls for Adani.'
Former Minister Ms. Gaikwad alleged the BJP government is constantly ignoring the opposition of the locals and letting Adani swallow the whole of Mumbai during the protest.
'The Kurla Mother Dairyland is environmentally sensitive. Kurla Mother Dairy houses hundred-year-old trees, locals are demanding a botanical garden to protect them, yet it is transferred to Adani for infrastructure purposes at a nominal rate,' she added.
Days ago, the Maharashtra Cabinet's decision to transfer an 8.05-hectare Mother Dairy land parcel to the DRPPL triggered opposition from locals and Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders. Kurla Dairy is among the three dairies of Mumbai, where milk production stopped over the years, and the land was made available for other projects.
Many Congress leaders and party functionaries, including MLA Jyoti Gaikwad, Congress spokesperson Suresh Chandra Rajhans, and Mumbai General Secretary Mahendra Mungekar, along with their supporters and activists, staged the peaceful protest in Kurla.
Ms. Gaikwad said, 'While we were peacefully protesting, once again the Modani (Modi and Adani) government had sent a large police force to suppress the voice of the people. What justice is it that the police stopped the peaceful protest with the force of police force? The government is providing security to thieves, but we will not be swayed by this oppression. We will continue to fight against this Adani government for the rights of Mumbai.'
She called the transfer of land a part of a 'conspiracy' wherein the plan is to destroy the lives of lakhs of Dharavikars and acquire 600 acres of land in Dharavi, along with Kurla Mother Dairy, saltpans, and Deonar dumping ground land. She alleged government will also seize land parcels in Air India Colony, Bandra Reclamation, Behrampada, and Motilal Nagar without taking the locals into confidence.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News18
17 minutes ago
- News18
US Resumes Harvard Student Visas After Judge Blocks Trump Ban
Last Updated: The Trump administration had justified the student visa ban on national security grounds, but Harvard countered that it was being targeted for resisting White House. The US State Department has directed all American embassies and consular sections worldwide to resume processing student and exchange visitor visas for Harvard University, following a federal judge's decision to temporarily block President Donald Trump's ban on foreign students at the Ivy League institution. In a diplomatic cable dated June 6 and signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the State Department said the revised instructions were issued 'in accordance with" the temporary restraining order granted by US District Judge Allison Burroughs in Boston. The judge blocked the Trump administration's proclamation from taking effect while further legal proceedings continue. The Trump administration had justified the student visa ban on national security grounds, but Harvard countered that it was being targeted in retaliation for resisting White House efforts to exert control over the university's governance, curriculum, and campus ideology. The diplomatic cable also noted that other visa requirements remain unchanged, including enhanced social media vetting and review of applicants' online presence. The State Department declined to comment on the internal communication when approached. This legal battle is part of a broader standoff between the Trump administration and Harvard, which has also seen funding freezes and proposals to revoke the university's tax-exempt status, escalating tensions between the federal government and one of the country's most prestigious academic institutions.
New Indian Express
19 minutes ago
- New Indian Express
Initiate process of electing LS deputy speaker: Kharge writes to PM Modi
NEW DELHI: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to initiate the process of electing a deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha. Keeping the position vacant "does not augur well for India's democratic polity and is also in violation of well-laid-out provisions of the Constitution," the Congress chief said. "Dear Prime Minister, I am writing to bring to your kind attention the highly concerning matter in regard to the prevailing vis-í -vis the vacancy of the deputy speaker in the Lok Sabha. Article 93 of the Constitution of India mandates the election of both the speaker and the deputy speaker of the House of the People. Constitutionally, the deputy speaker is the second-highest presiding officer of the House after the speaker," he said. Kharge said traditionally, the deputy speaker has been elected in the second or third session of a newly constituted Lok Sabha. The procedure for this election mirrors that of the speaker, with the only distinction being that the date for the deputy speaker's election is fixed by the speaker, as per Rule 8(1) of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha, he noted. In his letter to the PM, Kharge noted that from the first to the sixteenth Lok Sabha, every House has had a deputy speaker. By and large, it has been a well-established convention to appoint the deputy speaker from among the members of the principal opposition party, he said. "However, for the first time in independent India's history, this position has remained vacant for two consecutive Lok Sabha terms. No deputy speaker was elected during the seventeenth Lok Sabha, and this concerning precedent continues in the ongoing eighteenth Lok Sabha," Kharge said. "This does not augur well for India's democratic polity and is also in violation of well laid out provisions of the Constitution," the Congress chief said. "In view of the foregoing and in keeping with the esteemed traditions of the House and the democratic ethos of our Parliament, I request your good self to initiate the process of electing a deputy speaker of Lok Sabha without any further delay," he asserted Kharge's demand comes ahead of Parliament's Monsoon session of Parliament starting from July 21.
India Today
32 minutes ago
- India Today
Should we stay or leave? Indian students at Harvard caught in Trump's crossfire
Indian students at Harvard say they are navigating a "rollercoaster" of uncertainty and anxiety amid the Trump administration's relentless battle against the university while also dealing with a dearth of job opportunities."It's just been a time of not quite knowing what to do, whether we should make our moves back home, or whether we should try and figure something out here," an Indian student, who graduated last month from the Harvard Kennedy School, said, not wishing to be students at Harvard, speaking to news agency PTI on the condition of anonymity, shared their concerns and experiences of the last few months during which the prestigious university has seen relentless attacks by the Trump administration. The administration's actions include a freeze of USD 2.2 billion in grants, revocation of the university's eligibility to enroll international students and suspension of entry of foreign nationals seeking to study or participate in exchange programmes at Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has said that Harvard's leadership has created an "unsafe campus environment by permitting anti-American, pro-terrorist agitators to harass and physically assault individuals, including many Jewish students and otherwise obstruct its once-venerable learning environment".US President Donald Trump, in a proclamation last week, said Harvard had refused recent requests of the DHS for information about foreign students' "known illegal activity", "known dangerous and violent activity", "known threats to other students or university personnel" and other related Indian student, who graduated from the Harvard Graduate School of Design after completing a two-year course, said students come to American institutions with plans of finishing their studies and then finding jobs to work for a few years in the she described the situation of the past few months as being a "rollercoaster"."With all the uncertainty, I can say that a lot of people who are hiring were generally hesitant of international students and maybe the Harvard tag helped earlier, but that's not the same right now at this particular moment," she student from Harvard Kennedy School pointed out that she was in a "desperate job search" at the moment, noting how difficult it was to get a job in the current environment."Employers have just stopped entertaining any international students, forget international students from Harvard, because our visa statuses are so volatile that who would want to employ us right now," she said she doesn't know whether she will be going back to India, staying back or heading to a different country altogether."That uncertainty is a lot in a country like America where you're paying" huge amounts of money in added that she thinks this is a short-term turbulence and things will settle down in the future. "But while we're caught in the crossfire, I think it's been difficult to plan and so it's stressful for sure."The students also pointed out that funding cuts initiated by the Trump administration were impacting jobs in the policy space, climate change, healthcare and public health Design School student recalled that just days before graduating last month, students found out that the Trump administration had terminated Harvard's Student and Exchange Visitor Programme (SEVP) certification, which meant the university could no longer enroll foreign students and existing foreign students must transfer or lose their legal status."We had just finished our final presentations, we were celebrating over lunch and we saw this news. It was quite unbelievable. Six months ago, you could never predict that something like this would happen," she however, urged foreign students not to feel discouraged by the current situation."This should not discourage people. Because I think what institutions like Harvard also do is that they make you a global citizen. And if not America, people are finding pathways elsewhere," she students say they had planned to move back to India eventually but had hoped to work in the US for the initial few years, both to get experience in the American job market and also to earn to pay back the significant student loans they young student, who graduated from Harvard Kennedy School, said while the current situation has been full of "unpredictability", at some levels students are building some kind of resistance, immunity to respond to developments in real-time, because the Trump administration's moves against Harvard have been blocked and stalled by the courts."The challenges that we face on a day-to-day basis are probably in terms of job opportunities, how we plan our future and the next steps," he said."I know of some classmates of mine who have been in the final stages of interviews with a few companies, but once they found out that these students were from Harvard, they were like 'that might pose a few issues later on. So, we'll move on with another candidate'," the student said."I've seen a higher number of people who are going back (to India). They have made up their mind that it's not worth staying and then being in a state of uncertainty, away from family and home, sacrificing a lot of things for a future that remains highly uncertain. So, that holds lesser value now for a lot of my peers," he cited media reports that said the State Department had told US consulates globally to resume processing visa applications for students planning to attend Harvard University. "All this is a signalling effect currently, which is hurting all of us a lot. Because you don't really know what, where you can apply, what you can do, employees are hesitant."He added that he had also been talking to a lot of students from India who are set to arrive in the US to commence studies at Harvard around September this year."Generally, yes, the concern has increased a lot in terms of what kind of opportunities exist, because they would be leaving a lot of things back home. The opportunity cost is higher than ever."He said incoming students or those planning to come to the US in the future to study were hesitant and considering whether they should apply to universities in Europe and elsewhere given "the kind of environment which has been created for international students generally in the US", which will have far-reaching said that while no one he has spoken to among the incoming students has been denied a visa, "some are reconsidering. They are unsure since there's fear of losing funding and scholarships they've received this year if they defer or don't join".According to statistics on the website of Harvard International Office, there are 788 students and scholars from India at all schools under Harvard University for the 2024-25 academic Global Support Services said on its website that each year, anywhere from 500-800 Indian students and scholars study at hosts a total of about 10,158 students and scholars from around the world across its schools, according to Harvard International Office Kennedy School student pointed to the "American Dream" that used to bring students from India and elsewhere to the US."I think that has been significantly affected. It's definitely not the same as what it used to be, even, I would say, five years ago, because a lot of this damage is unrepairable."But amid all this, what he found "heartening" was the university administration "stepping up" and putting forward a more resolute and strong show of support for the students."The other thing which has been absolutely amazing to see is students showing more support for their international peers."Tune InMust Watch IN THIS STORY#Donald Trump#United States of America
