There is a Rs 5,000-crore scam in airport slum rehab, says Kirit Somaiya

Alleging irregularities in the rehabilitation of slums around the Mumbai airport, senior BJP leader and former Lok Sabha MP Kirit Somaiya said the ruling Congress-NCP was “rigging” the voters’ list in Mumbai to steal a march in the coming polls.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Somaiya charged that the state government had opened up a “bonanza” for private companies by gifting 1.2 crore square feet TDR/FSI to GVK and HDIL “in the name of rehabilitation of Mumbai airport slums” and alleged that this was worth over Rs5,000 crore. He demanded an SIT inquiry and said he will approach the court naming chief minister Prithviraj Chavan in the petition.

The GVK-led consortium, which is handling the makeover of the Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL), had outsourced the rehabilitation of slum dwellers to HDIL.

However, the contract was terminated recently after HDIL failed to complete the project in the stipulated time.

“Shockingly, out of the 27,561 slums against which the TDR was given, only 644 families are shifted,” he alleged, questioning the “illegal largesse”.

When contacted, HDIL and MIAL spokespersons refused to comment.

Somaiya said the SRA had released 8.37 lakh square metre plus 3.46 lakh square metre TDR to HDIL without ensuring that the rehabilitation had taken place.

“The Congress-NCP has hatched a conspiracy to win the elections by rigging Mumbai’s voter list,” alleged Somaiya, adding that wrong photos had been printed alongside the names of voters in the rolls. A sample study by BJP workers revealed that there was a mismatch in 103 of 1,207 voters checked in the Ghatkopar (East) constituency.

He said while names of voters in Mulund, Girgaum and Lalbaug were deleted without issuing notices, the names of Bangladeshis continued to be in the list in Malwani and Mankhurd. The Election Commission had asked for these names to be deleted in a month, Somaiya added.

The allegations
Senior BJP leader and former Lok Sabha MP Kirit Somaiya said while names of voters in Mulund, Girgaum and Lalbaug were deleted without issuing notices, the names of Bangladeshis continued to be in the list in Malwani and Mankhurd. The Election Commission had asked for these names to be deleted in a month, Somaiya added