Playing spoiler in airport makeover: Congress MLA

Mumbai: In the crowded, squalid bylanes of Jari Mari and Bail Bazaar, both shanty towns in Kurla and abutting the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA), slum dwellers consider local MLA Arif Naseem Khan their godfather.
Not without reason. He’s been the one person who has been able to stay the demolition of these slums—a serious security hazard and critical for the airport’s development—for nearly a decade now. And on Tuesday morning, Khan continued to hold the view that a fresh surveyor must be appointed by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), the first step towards drafting a list of those eligible for rehabilitation, despite the fact that one consultant has been on the job for 10 months, with some 35 per cent of the survey done.
“No private surveyor,” Khan says, touring his constituency before heading for the Assembly session—he is a Congress MLA. “I recognise only the MMRDA, since it has been unanimously appointed by representatives of all parties for conducting the survey and defining the rehabilitation policy.”
03/04/07 Lekha Agarwal/Mumbai Newsline

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Categories: Airports Apr 2007