Air India employees’ protest bears fruits, to get Nerul flats soon

The 350 Air India (AI) employees won a seven year battle with the City Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO), which agreed to expedite the allotment of flats the former had bought in 2004 after the employees staged a protest march on the morning of September 15.

Pradeep Wakde (64), a retired aircraft engineer with AI, is happy that a 30-minute protest march helped him get the result after his six-year-struggle. “The CIDCO gave us letters saying that they are forming a committee to expedite the scrutiny of applications and will give us no objection certificate (NOC). After we get the NOC, we will form a society and AI will give us the possession of flats,” he said. 

On Thursday nearly 150 AI employees walked from Parsik Hills in Nerul to CIDCO’s office in CBD Belapur to seek immediate possession of flats.

In 1992 CIDCO had allotted 28,626 sq m of land at Nerul to AI to construct staff quarters. The airline in 2004 decided to sell these flats and CIDCO demanded additional Rs60 crore. AI failed to give the possession of the flats to its employees. The employees approached the Bombay high court. In June 2010, HC insisted that the additional amount be borne by the employees. The employees paid Rs100 crore to AI, including the additional Rs60 crore but didn’t get the allotment letter. 

Mohit Ninave, the spokesperson for CIDCO, was unavailable for comment.