'Leave airport to slum dwellers'

Mumbai: Minister of state for housing Pritamkumar Shegaonkar suggested at a meeting in the state secretariat on Thursday that plans for expansion of the Mumbai airport should be abandoned in the interest of slum dwellers.
For close to 30 minutes, Shegaonkar vehemently argued with state government officials about the right of shelter of the slum dwellers and how it was not such a good idea to relocate the slums from the airport land.
"After all they have been living there for decades. It has been their home. In fact all this encroachment was ignored by the officials for so long now, so where is the need to shift them now?" Shegaonkar is understood to have said.
Top officials from the state housing department, MMRDA and the Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd were left speechless. In fact, when it was pointed out to him that the expansion of the airport was essential and crucial to plans for making Mumbai an international financial hub, Shegaonkar replied, "But after all they are our votes. Where do we go if these people are shifted out from here?"
As if that was not all, Shegaonkar then suggested that if the expansion was inevitable, then the authorities should look at rehousing at least 10% to 20% of the slum dwellers on the land currently occupied by them.
11/05/07 Times of India

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Categories: Airports May 2007