It has been over 10 years since Anandrao Landge, 60, had to part with six acres of land for a proposed project by Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (Bhel) in Vidarbha. The landless labourer now spends sleepless nights wondering if it would shift to Gujarat.

Overlooking the national highway, a blue board with “Power Equipment Fabrication Plant” written on it stands in front of a tall gate and a long compound wall, giving the impression of an upcoming industrial project.

However, Anandrao from Mundipar village under Sakoli tehsil of Bhandara district gets annoyed when asked about it.

He counts on his fingers the years that have passed since his land was acquired for the plant to be set up by the central PSU.

“It is more than 10 years,” he said.

“We have been waiting for over 10 years. I gave all my land for a very low price. The plant has not been set up yet. I thought my son would get a job at the plant. Now we hear several industrial projects have been shifted from Maharashtra to Gujarat. We are anxious if this project has also been shifted to Gujarat,” Anandrao added.

Anandrao’s son Tejram is a graduate from the local college and is currently working at a factory in Hyderabad.

“I am working as a labourer on others’ farmland. My son had to migrate to another state in search of work. I think the plant should be opened without wasting any more time. Or we should get back our land,” Anandrao said.

Thirty-year-old Harish Laxman Landge from the same village said his land had been acquired at ₹9.5 lakh per acre between 2012 and 2014 for the plant that they had hoped would generate jobs for the villagers.

Harish, whose family has given up two acres of land, said Bhel had decided to set up the plant at the insistence of then Union heavy industries minister Praful Patel who represented the Bhandara-Gondia Lok Sabha seat between 2009 and 2014.

In the 2014 general election, Patel lost to Nana Patole who contested on a BJP ticket. The project was put on the back-burner after that.

Patole later joined the Congress and represented the Sakoli Assembly seat in 2019. Patole is contesting from the Sakoli seat this time against the BJP’s Avinash Brahmankar.

“The project made little progress after 2013-14. The boundary wall was constructed at that time too. We have held demonstrations to demand our land back. But nothing is happening,” Harish said.

In May 2013, a PTI report had quoted a media statement issued by Bhel to state that the project was being set up at an initial investment of ₹500 crore and would provide direct employment to 700 people. Bhel had planned to commence operations at the plant 24 months after the completion of the land acquisition process.

Over 500 acres of farmland have been acquired for the project.

Harish said the villagers had a meeting with the subdivisional magistrate last month where they demanded their land back, but got no concrete assurance.

Prabhushankar Nagarkar, 50, a resident of Sakoli village, said the UPA government had brought the project but MLA Patole, who is the Maharashtra Congress president, is not taking interest.

“The local leaders should pursue the project if it’s not making progress. There are rumours that this will be shifted to Gujarat,” he said.

Prabhushankar’s elder daughter works in a private firm in Pune after completing a diploma in civil engineering from the local industrial training institute. His younger daughter is pursuing a diploma in electrical engineering.

“If the plant had come up, my daughter would have worked here,” Prabhushankar said.

Devananda Landge, who drives transport vehicles, had given up two acres of land for the project.

“The land is very fertile. The delay is a loss for us and the country. We were growing paddy. We would have harvested thousands of quintals of paddy from this land,” Devananda said.

The Opposition parties have claimed that Maharashtra is losing manufacturing projects to Gujarat.

Last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez launched the Tata Airbus Final Assembly Line project in Vadodara to co-produce the C-295 aircraft in India. Maharashtra industry minister Uday Samant had on September 15, 2022, said the project would be set up in Nagpur. Union minister Nitin Gadkari had written to Tata Sons chairperson N. Chandrasekaran in October 2022 to set up the project in Nagpur. The Congress has alleged that the project meant for Maharashtra has been surrendered to Gujarat. The BJP has denied the allegation.

The Shiv Sena has alleged that the Vedanta Foxconn Semiconductor project was supposed to be set up near Pune but was shifted to Gujarat.

Sashikant Ramnath, 24, said that the locals would intensify their protest once the Maharashtra elections are over.

“In this area, the poll issue is the delay in the plant and the fear about its possible transfer to Gujarat. We will stage bigger protests,” he said.

An email was sent to Rohit Singh, deputy general manager of Bhel, to understand the company’s views on the delay and its plans for the project. His response is awaited. Calls and messages on his phone have elicited no response.