Congress: Houses meant for airport slum rehabilitation given to others

While at one end, the Urban development department headed by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in May last year cleared the decks to provide homes to those living in post-2000 tenements under the slums redevelopment scheme, at the other, Congress legislator and former minister Arif Naseem Khan Sunday alleged that the BJP-led government had left thousands of slum dwellers living near the city airport in the lurch.

According to Khan, the delay in rehabilitation of over 10,500 surveyed families in the priority list not just meant the neglect of the PAPs, but also of serious security threats.

“Survey of 10,500 families residing in slum areas of Bail Bazar, Kranti Nagar and Sandesh Nagar, including four major areas of Jari Mari — Indira Nagar, Sevak Nagar, Vijay Nagar and Gandhi Nagar — has been conducted three times in the past ten years. Major milestones, such as identifying land for the project and convincing slum dwellers to allow the survey, was taken care of by the Congress government under Vilasrao Deshmukh. We have been working closely working on the issue. However, the current government does not seem to be serious about implementing the project,” said Khan, who Sunday visited slums adjacent to airport boundary walls.

Around 17,000 tenements have been constructed by the real estate developer HDIL in Kurla, meant for for the families occupying shanties on land required for aeronautical activities and airport beautification. Khan alleged that while the PAP were living in shanties that lacked even proper toilets, people from other areas had been shifted to the Kurla tenements.

“The tenements were ready in 2015. The CM himself had assured the PAP that they would be shifted to the new homes. Then what is the wait for? Just last week, 425 families from Ghatkopar pipeline areas were rehabilitated here. In the past two years, around 2,000 PAP from other areas have been shifted here. We are not against their rehabilitation, but the original purpose for which these tenements were built remains neglected,” said Khan.

At present, while the cut-off date that legitimises slum dwelling units built before 2000 will remain unchanged, the state is planning to accommodate residents of structures built later in the built-up space that remains after all eligible slum dwellers have been rehabilitated and the sale component due to the developer has been taken care of.

“While most of the sale components have already been sold off, the eligible PAP are still awaiting rehabilitation, further delaying those ineligible. We have met the MMRDA commissioner and given him a deadline of February. We have urged him to shift the PAP to the Kurla flats before March or face a huge protest,” said Khan. Khan has urged authorities to consider MUTP criteria to establish eligibility of the PAP.

Meanwhile, angry residents said the airport slum rehabilitation issue had become nothing more than a tool to woo vote banks. “Notifications, regulations, surveys, announcements related to our rehabilitation only happen when election dates approach. We had initially opposed the surveys, but cooperated later, hoping it would benefit us and we could be free of life in the slums. However, three surveys and several decisions later, our wait refuses to end. The current MLA from this constituency too had promised us homes, because of which we voted for her,” said Kishore Sonar, a resident off Kranti Nagar.

Another resident, Dutta Patil from Sandesh Nagar said, “During elections, they paint a very colourful picture. They tell us ‘You will celebrate your next Diwali at your new homes.’ Ten such Diwalis have gone, we continue to live here. Then we get to know that they are shifting others to the place promised to us. If they were to give us in writing that we would not be shifted, we would at least repair our houses and live here happily.”

dipti.singh@expressindia.com