MUMBAI: Navi Mumbai International Airport unlikely to keep deadline as the project affected people have refused to vacate villages unless and until all amenities are provided at the alternate location where the authorities want them to relocate.
People from ten villages, where the land has been acquired for the Greenfield international airport, have refused to leave their place.
While the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) had given then the December 15 deadline for relocating to the new designated place, the villagers have said that till all their community, as well as individual demands, are met, they won’t be relocated.
Rajaram Patil, the leader of the project affected people has also written a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to ensure that the CIDCO meets all their demands.
“Our past experience shows that while CIDCO agrees to all demands till getting land into its possession but doesn’t bother to meet them once that is done,” Patil said while explaining why the POP association is reluctant to leave.
Construction in the airport has assumed pace.
The CIDCO has almost completed works like cutting down the Ulwe hillock, changing the course of Ulwe river, levelling of the marshy land etc.
The work on runway and terminals too has begun.
To advance the work, CIDCO had proposed relocation of ten villages.
Three more villages in the vicinity were inundated this monsoon. Hence, the CIDCO has decided to relocate those villages also.
However, the infrastructure for them is not ready at the relocation site.
This has led to the agitation of the POP.
The association of ten villages relocated earlier too has pledged support to the villagers from the three villages, Ulwe, Kombadbhuje and Talghar.
The CIDCO had agreed to most of the demands raised by the villagers from these three villages.
They were assured of rent at the market rates and construction costs. However, some of their demands are still pending, officials from CIDCO have said.
Due to this unexpected disturbance, the airport project is unlikely to meet the December 2020 deadline, officials said.