Maharashtra government grants more incentives to families to be hit by Navi Mumbai airport

The state cabinet decided to relax the cut-off date of September 2013 for the project-affected families to be eligible for rehabilitation

The Maharashtra government on Thursday decided to grant additional incentives to families affected by the proposed Rs16,000-crore Navi Mumbai International Airport, clearing one of the final stumbling blocks for the project to move forward.

The Navi Mumbai airport is proposed to be built on 1,160 hectares of land across ten villages on which about 3,500 families live. (HT)

The state cabinet decided to relax the cut-off date of September 2013 for the project-affected families to be eligible for rehabilitation and include 223 structures that were not detected in the 2013 satellite survey, but were found to exist on the actual ground survey conducted later.

It also decided to consider more than one structure owned by the same family as eligible for the state government’s entire rehabilitation package.

A senior official from the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) said, “Moreover, the government has now decided to consider even those structures where the owner is currently not living as part of the rehabilitation package. There were several such cases. The state cabinet has also designated the principal secretary of the urban development department to take decisions at the department’s level in case of any additional demands for the rehabilitation of the project affected for the airport project.”

The state government has already rolled out an extensive relief and rehabilitation package to bring the families on board in a total package of Rs 350 crore.

A state government official said the recent decisions are likely to add about Rs 30 crore to the cost.

CIDCO, which has started pre-development works at the proposed site, will start shifting the project-affected families to an alternate accommodation in October.

The pre-development work involves flattening a hillock, reclaiming marsh land and diverting a river to make way for the construction of the airport.

It is expected to take about a year and a half to complete.