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Mar 2007

Slum dwellers protest against Mumbai Airport expansion

     Mumbai: Slum dwellers in Mumbai are objecting to the proposed modernisation of the city airport, as it involves the razing of slums. Over 80,000 illegal hutments located around the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport have to be bulldozed to facilitate the expansion. The protesters claim that the rehabilitation package is inadequate. "We are living here since for the past 40 years. Why can't we live? They are sending us to Kari where there is no water, no electricity, no buses or any other civic amenity," claimed Sheila, a slum dweller. The expansion project is being undertaken by Mumbai International Airport Pvt. Ltd, a joint venture of a consortium of India's GVK Group, Airports Company South Africa Ltd. and Bidvest Group Ltd. with the state-run airports operator. "This is the biggest land scam done by the GVK Group. The group has bought this from the Government at 52 billion rupees and is now going to earn more than ten percent. We will not tolerate this. We will not allow flight kitchen and hotels to be built on our land," said Nicholas Almeida, a Corporator of Sahar-Mumbai. The project, is part of a larger 20-year, 70-billion-rupee plan to double the capacity of the airport to 40 million passengers.
-Mar 21, 2007