Mumbai airport slum rehab project back on track

But fate of 60,000 slum dwellers still uncertain

The Mumbai airport slum rehabilitation project is back on track, with state Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis directing officials to expedite the process.

The project to resettle over 70,000 families occupying airport land has remained stuck due to opposition and litigation. Nearly 20,000 tenements built for rehabilitation are vacant.

In the first phase, about 17,000 families, residing in the Kurla area on the eastern fringes of the Mumbai airport, will be resettled. A survey to determine which families are eligible for rehabilitation was initiated two years ago but was not completed. The first step will be completion of this survey, a state government official said.

"The structures are situated are bordering the airport land and are to be shifted first," the official added.

The fate of remainder 60,000 families still hangs in balance and as yet there is no clarity which agency will construct tenements for them.

Mumbai airport land is spread over 1,981 acres. Runways, terminal buildings, aircraft hangars, etc, account for about 1,169 acres, or about 58% of the land. About 308 acres (15.58%) of the land is encroached, while about 7% is vacant or undeveloped.

In 2007 Mumbai International Airport Limited signed Housing Development and Infrastructure Limited to rehabilitate the slum dwellers. HDIL constructed about 20,000 tenements and earned transfer of development rights (incentive FSI) but slum dwellers residing on airport-owned land couldn't be shifted since the government did not identify residents who would be eligible for rehabilitation.

In 2013 MIAL terminated the contract citing non compliance of contract conditions and the dispute is now under arbitration.

The government official added that it was upto MIAL to decide the agency to complete the rehabilitation project.

MIAL refused comment. A HDIL spokesperson too declined comment. "The issue is sub judice. We will abide by arbitration ruling and government decision,"a HDIL spokesperson said.