Mumbai airport slums face closure

Mumbai: For decades, people flying into the city have gaped out of their windows watching their planes almost skimming over the dense patchwork of slums when coming into land.
Saurabh Khedekar, a frequent air-traveller to Mumbai, says the landing still gives him the jitters.
Now the government is moving to clear the 200 acres of encroached land on which the slums sit and share a boundary with the 2000-acre international airport.
Moves to demolish the slums have met stiff opposition from some residents.
They fear the disruption to their work, the problems with moving far from the markets where they sell their goods and the distances their children will have to travel to school.
The authorities say there is no cause for alarm.
"The slum dwellers will be resettled. These structures are on the airport land and very close to the runway," says Manish Kalghatgi, spokesperson for the Mumbai International Airport Limited which is revamping the airport.
21/01/08 Prachi Pinglay/BBC News, UK

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Categories: Airports Jan 2008