Mumbai : A survey to ascertain eligibility of Project Affected People (PAPs) of the Mumbai Airport expansion project in Kurla area on the eastern fringes of the airport is finally underway.
According to a Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MRRDA) official, the survey would be carried out in Kranti Nagar, Jari Mari, Sandesh Nagar and Sevak Nagar in Kurla area.
“The additional collector (encroachments removal) has started the survey of the four priority corridors of the airport area to rehabilitate slum-dwellers. The survey will determine the eligibility of PAPs and once the report is handed over to the government, MMRDA will provide tenements to them,” MMRDA spokesperson said. The survey, according to MMRDA officials, is expected to take around a month to complete. Earlier in May, officials had decided to carry out the survey but could not go ahead due to absence of police protection.
The project to resettle over 70,000 families occupying the airport land has remained stuck due to litigation and stiff opposition from locals. Evicting the slum-dwellers is critical to securing the airport against any terrorist threats from the slums. Last year in September, Civil Aviation Ministry had written to the Maharashtra government asking them to expedite rehabilitation as security threat to the airport from the slum is grave.
Mumbai airport land is spread over 1,981 acres. While about 58% (1,169 acres) of the land is used for runway, terminal buildings, aircraft hangers etc, around 15.58% (308 acres) of the land is encroached upon and the remaining 7% is undeveloped/vacant.
“The families will be shifted to rehabilitation at flats built by Housing Development Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL) on land where the earlier Premier Automobiles factory was located in Kurla. Once the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) hands over the tenements we will shift the families,” the spokesperson added. HDIL was appointed for the job by the airport’s operator, Mumbai International Airport Ltd, a joint venture between a GVK-led consortium and the Airports Authority of India.
The rehab colony constructed by HDIL in lieu of TDR has 17,000 tenements. MMRDA has earlier used 1,200 tenements to rehabilitate PAPs of the Sahar Elevated Road project. Along with that in February this year, around 100 flats were handed over to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to rehabilitate its various groups of PAPs.
The colony is nearly a kilometer away from the aeronautical area where around 12,000 families currently reside. In the first phase, eligibility survey is being carried out on the aeronautical area. Once the survey is completed, off the 12,000 families, PAPs would be shifted to the rehabilitation tenements once the eligibility survey is completed. “The entire process is likely to be completed in the next six to eight months,” said the spokesperson.
