Azmi supports Mumbai airport slum rehab plan

Mumbai: People's representation and a democratic process. That’s what the 85,000-odd slum dwellers encroaching upon 171 acres of airport land are asking for.
And lending them support is former member of Parliament Shabana Azmi’s Nivara Hakk Suraksha Samiti (NHSS), which has drawn a blueprint for their resettlement on a portion of Airports Authority of India (AAI) land itself.
‘‘Rehabilitation cannot be enforced by a central authority,’’ said Azmi, chairperson of NHSS, which helped rehabilitate 13,000 squatters from Sanjay Gandhi National Park to Chandivali—the state wanted to relocate them to far-off Kalyan and Shirdon.
Instead, she added, alliances of ‘‘like-minded organisations’’ should be formed to highlight slum dwellers’ aspirations and work out a rehab package that will be acceptable to all. On Tuesday, the NHSS will hold a meeting where slum dwellers residing around the airport can discuss the alternatives available.
While the GVK-SA consortium is already in talks with the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority and NGO SPARC, clearing slums from airport land is unlikely to be smooth, especially considering how similar attempts in the past have failed. But the mood is hopeful.
20/04/06 Lekha Agarwal/Mumbai Newsline

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