Hundreds of airport slum families risk losing homes

Mumbai: There's a notice board in the middle of the Sahar Village square urging people not to repair their houses. It also warns residents against purchasing new huts or selling any existing structures. The notice has been gathering dust for two years, but now its ominous message is hitting home. In what will be India's largest urban displacement and relocation plan, four lakh residents who live in the periphery of the airport will be shifted to other areas in the suburbs so that the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport's modernization and expansion can be completed by 2013. But it's not so cut-and-dry, as many residents who have poured their life savings into a new house in the area in recent years have been informed that they are not eligible to a replacement under the Slum Rehabilitation Scheme.
Hundreds of families stay in quarters that have been built before 2000 (implying they should be part of the rehabilitation package) but have moved into those quarters after the cut-off date (disqualifying them from the package). The state government had extended the rehabilitation cut-off date for vital projects from 1995 to 2000. But here's the catch: while the structure is eligible, anyone who has moved in post-2000 has no claim to a free house in lieu of the structure they occupy.
Two years after the state started the process of acquiring the 276 acres of land, the project is mired in controversy and protests.
16/12/10 Clara Lewis/Times of India

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Categories: Airports Dec 2010