Give better deal to those affected: Govt to Cidco

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government has asked City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco) to ensure that the second airport project at Navi Mumbai makes a minimal socio-economic impact on the residents.

Chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh at a recently held meet directed Cidco, which has been designated as the nodal agency for developing Mumbai’s second international airport near Panvel, to implement the project in such a manner that the number of project-affected people could be restricted.

At a presentation before the CM, Cidco team led by managing director GS Gill told the state government that the project could affect around 16,000 people. Apparently, alarmed by a spate of protests over industrial projects coming up in and around Navi Mumbai including two SEZs, the CM has asked Cidco officials to ensure that the airport project-affected people get the best of rehabilitation package. Cidco team informed the government that Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) has been engaged to conduct a socio-economic impact survey in the region. The study report would help the government arrive at a mutually-agreed compensation package, officials said.

The central government has already issued the notification announcing the Rs 4,600-crore second airport project and its location. The airport is proposed to come up over 1,600 hectares of land of which Cidco is already in possession of 1,150 hectares, officials said. Process for acquiring the remaining 450 hectares is at an advanced stage without any major problem, Cidco officials told the government.

With the site falling in the coastal region, Cidco has already filed an application for clearances with the Coastal Regulatory Zone Authority. A Pune-based central government organisation Central Water and Power Research Station (CWPRS) has been asked to conduct a hydrological study. Cidco estimates that the second international airport would get operational by 2012.