Villagers and the people of the Varkari sect are on one side and state government and Dow Chemicals on the other. The bone of contention is the future of Dow Chemicals' $100-million R&D project, for which 100 acres of land was allotted in the village near the Sudha -- held sacred by the followers of a Bhakti cult called Varkaris.
The international chemical giant Dow will invest $100 million in Research and Development (R&D) facility at Chakan, near Pune. The centre may be fully functional by 2010. The R&D facility would come up in the 100-acres, and will employ 500 researchers.
The Maharashtra government fears that the agitation against Dow Chemical's proposed Research and Development centre was orchestrated by its aggressive neighbour to influence Dow to take its $400-million project to that particular state.
Dow India would comply with all the directives stated by the government to work outa solution to the current situation, the company said. Recently the company's research facility at Chakan was razed by a group of villagers, following which members of the Warkari sect claimed responsibility for the act, saying they would not allow the facility to come up at a place which is sacred to the followers of the 17th century Bhakti movement saint Tukaram.
Notwithstanding persistent claims by the multinational chemical company that it has no plans to convert the R&D center into a manufacturing unit across the 100 acres of land it has acquired through Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation at village Shinde, the protest by locals and activists continues.
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