Airport drive to relocate slums

The group of ministers on salt lands has decided to relocate 42,000 slum dwellers in Maharashtra's saltlands.

Priority will be given to the Santa Cruz region for modernisation and expansion of the Mumbai airport.

The urban development ministry has been asked to place a detailed proposal before the cabinet before the end of December.

Members of the GoM, which met today, will also approach Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for handing over of 45 hectares of 'non-development zone' land for faster implementation. The centre and state governments will split the costs of the relocation project.

The encroachers, to be targetted under the first phase of the project will be housed in eight-storey appartment blocks to be built on 58 hectares of developable saltland available in Maharashtra.

Of the total of 86 hectares of saltlands, 28 hectares were to be put to commercial use and the funds generated used to construct the houses in the remaining area.

The GoM has also decided to take up resettlement of encroachers on railways, civil aviation, defence and shipping lands on a priority basis.

According to estimates 7048 hutments encroach on railways land, 13,355 on shipping land, 1,20,000 on civil aviation land and 11,241 hutments on defence land.