The Kundalika river to the south of Alibaug is where siblings Sanjana Patil, 41, and Prasad Gaikwad, 38, learnt the breast-stroke as children. Bobbing among its currents, they competed to see who could hold their breath underwater the longest. In its warm embrace, they learnt how to let go and just float — a luxury they can no longer afford. 

Patil and Gaikwad are among a handful of locals fighting to save their hometown which, they say, is undergoing rampant and unregulated urbanisation, especially in the last five years since the ambitious RoRo services were launched in March 2020. For the thousands of people flooding Alibaug every weekend, the beach town is like paradise. For the locals, though, it’s quickly turning into a hell ill-equipped to handle the rising tourist figures or the luxury homes mushrooming everywhere. Owning a holiday home in Alibaug was once a flex for the upper middle class and above. But with more people now aspiring to move here, developers are meeting this demand with more affordable matchbox apartments — mimicking Mumbai’s housing schemes.