Villagers oppose land reservation for airport

July 18: The residents of 14 villagers of the Rewas-Mandwa region whose land has been earmarked for the proposed second international airport for Mumbai have urged the government not to reserve their land till an ongoing study on the airport proposal is completed.

The 14 Gaon Shetkari and Machichimar Bachav Andolan Samiti, which is spearheading the agitation against the airport, noted in a press release that a fresh detailed indepth study on the airport had been commissioned by the government early this year. The recommendations made by the study should be examined and finally accepted before land is reserved for the project, the Samiti said. The body has also demanded that recommendations made by the Executive Planning Committee of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority to drop Rewas-Mandwa from the list of sites for locating the new airport be made public.

The villagers have also opposed the government’s reported plan to reduce the size of the project from 45 sq kms to 15 sq kms. They pointed out that the environmental degradation caused by the project will remain the same despite the downsizing, therefore opposition to the project will continue.