Over one lakh villagers to hit the road on June 24 demanding NMIA be renamed after D B Patil

Project Affected People (PAP) of 95 villages of Navi Mumbai observed a black day on March 17 which is also the establishment day of City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) and threatened that over one lakh villagers will hit the road on June 24.

The PAPs from Navi Mumbai have been demanding to name the proposed Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) after late socialist D B Patil which is reportedly not accepted by the CIDCO. Following this villagers blocked the road in Dastan Fata in Jasai on March 17.

For the last two years, PAPs of Navi Mumbai under the banner of the All-Party Action Committee (APAC) has been protesting against the state government and CIDCO for not giving the name of NMIA after Patil, a PAPs leader.

Over a host of issues, a meeting was held in Mumbai wherein Sanjay Mukherjee, managing director and vice-chairman of CIDCO, MLA Prashant Thakur and MLA Mahesh Baldi were present. Among other issues like immediate allotment of 12.5 percent developed land to JNPT PAP, the demand of naming the airport after Late Patil was also discussed. However, MLA Thakur alleged that the CIDCO administration is not ready to accept their demand over the airport’s name. He said, “There was no positive outcome of the meeting and now the villagers will observe a black day on March 17 which is also establishment day.

APAC members alleged that the city was developed after acquiring land at a throwaway price and now most of the villagers have become poor. “The agriculture land was taken for the city and now farmers don’t have an occupation to run the family,” said Baldi.

Thakur said that on March 17 at 10.30 am, villagers will stage block the road at Dastan Fata in Jasai. “Villagers will continue to protest till the demand is not met,” said Thakur.

Last year, around 20,000 villagers had staged protests in Belapur. The police had even registered FIR against the organizer including MLA Prashant Thakur. Even in January 2022, more than 10,000 villagers from 27 villages assembled at the airport site near Dapoli village in Panvel amidst tight police security for a symbolic work-stopping agitation. The APAC representatives had given a month ultimatum to address their demand else they would launch the agitation once again wherein more than one lakh villagers will hit the road.

Published on: Saturday, March 19, 2022, 10:44 AM IST