Give more land & cash, else no Navi Mumbai airport: PAPs

Barely five months to the February 15, 2014 deadline for acquiring land for the proposed Navi Mumbai international airport, the people residing in the project area are firm that they will not allow it to happen unless they get a higher percentage of developed land in exchange for their properties.

“The state government’s offer of only 22.5% developed land and on cash compensation is not acceptable to us at all. We are firm that if our demand is not acceptable to the government we will not allow the project to happen,” said Mahendra Patil, sarpanch of Pargaon, one of the eight villages that will be affected by the project.

The project-affected people are demanding developed plots up to 35% of their properties as well as cash compensation, while the state and Cidco, the nodal agency, has agreed to give them 22.5%.

The February 2014 deadline was set by the prime minister’s office (PMO) and the state government is supposed to also appoint a developer for the airport by that date.

Patil is angry that the authorities have been giving false assurances for the past 20 years and he insists that the villagers will not fall prey anymore. “Cidco has been telling us that our plot will get a rate of Rs15 crore per 100sq metres when it is developed. But what about today? If we remain satisfied with 22.5% and agree to give our land, what will we survive on till the land is developed?” asked Patil, who is also a member of the Prakalpagrast Sangharsh Samiti — the umbrella body of project-affected persons.

Ravindra Patil, sarpanch of Wahal, another of the affected villages, said, “Though the mediating leaders and Cidco are doing a good job by putting all options before the villagers, what we require is proper compensation. If we don’t get cash we will be left homeless.” 

The PMO called a meeting on Monday to review the project, which has been in the planning for many years, and Cidco joint managing director V Radha has suggested that the nodal agency is doing everything in a transparent manner to make the project feasible.

“During the last meeting with the committee members I had told them that a final decision on their demands would be taken by the chief minister himself and that he would be calling a meeting with them soon. The cash compensation option is still open and the offer will be finalised at the CM’s level,” said Radha.