cameras to click pictures of villagers for documentation and even a fingerprint system for employee attendance village sarpanch kavita rakshi says they are doing all thats possible to improve the quality of life of the villagers the one thing missing she says is structured higher education for our children we request the authorities to set up an engineering college in the vicinity so that our children can get the kind of education which will one day get them highpaying jobs in one of the companies here she says what changed at maan the village has a remotecontrolled water pump so once the tank is full the pump can be turned off from a distance space has been earmarked for a sewage treatment plant the village now has concrete school buildings biogas plants have been installed at many locations women here package fresh agroproduce and send it to pune and other neighbouring districts a plant nursery started by some villagers employed under the mahatma gandhi national rural employment guarantee scheme is now a profitable venture a tumultuous history of its total 7000acres 2981 acres of the village were acquired by the state in 200506 for the construction of phase ii and iiii of rajiv gandhi infotech park situated about 35 kilometre away from the city on nh4 the villagers protested when the state proposed to reserve another 1150 acres of their land for acquisition for phase iv on march 6 2006 there was a violent clash between the police and a 2000strong mob of villagers more than 60 it and bpo companies have their offices in phase ii and iii of the it park the area is also home to swanky hotels restaurants and residential townships villagers were promised jobs in companies in exchange for their land which was acquired by the government while the rate was fixed at rs 1750 lakh per acre for acquisition in 2004 farmers allege they were shortchanged as land rates in the area shotup quickly village awaits solution to water shortage maan predominantly an agricultural village is largely dependent on nature for its supply of water for its drinking water needs the village draws water from the mula river and from the ground through borewells and wells farmers are demanding water to be released from the bhama askhed dam for irrigation a 19kilometre canal was built on our farmland for water to reach our village we have approached the irrigation department several times with our request to release water for our agricultural needs but so far we have not been able to manage additional water says ozharkar anand chairman of maangaon bachao kriti samiti save maan village action committee which has been fighting for the rights of the village since its land was acquired in 2005 officials of maharashtra industrial development corporation midc which has developed the it park here say villagers have recently approached them for water but they cannot provide it as they do not have sufficient water at its current capacity midc