Ulwa village homes develop cracks due to Navi Mumbai airport work

Every single family in the village of Ulwa lives in fear of the roof collapsing on their heads while they sleep The cracks in the walls thanks to the work being carried out on the Navi Mumbai airport nearby are a painful reminder of CIDCOs broken promises to the 10 project affected villages in the vicinity CIDCO City and Industrial Development Corporation is the nodal agency for the Rs 16000crore projectThe site allotted by CIDCO to the villagers of Ulwa has an incomplete road and only poles with no streetlights with domesticated animals grazing on the land thereTall promisesIn 2013 the villagers were offered a tempting deal to give up their land for the proposed airport mdash three times the land they owned oneandahalf FSI and Rs 1000 per square foot of the land they owned Nata Patil president of the International Airport Committee IAC which comprises MLAs ExMPs and ExMLAs who are demanding justice for the 3500 projectaffected villagers said Months after we agreed they told us each family would get one house which means if a couple has two houses in their name they will get only one in the newly allocated space Also it does not matter if the house is big or small we will get only 700 sq feet per family Patil saidAlso read Villagers to stop Navi Mumbai airport workAnusaya Jadhav Madvi who has been living in the village for 60 years says the houses there never developed cracks except until now PicsSameer MarkandeNo roads or electricityVillagers said the new plot was barely a kilometre or two away and was just open space We have been allocated plots there but without roads or streetlights The authorities have been telling us to move to this new plot since October 2016 They are paying us rent of Rs 12 per square foot on the current property we own and are asking us to sign the agreement and shift We have to build our new homes on the new plot in 18 months They have given us land but permission to build on it will take almost six months When will we be able to then build and move in We dont want to leave our current residences yet as we are not sure how the government is going to cheat us next said Sanjay Patil secretary International Airport CommitteeAlso read Navi Mumbai 3 months on NAINAs development plan still not in sightRam Seth Thakur ex MP and IAC member said The villagers were supposed to move in by June this year At this rate how can they We will fight to ensure the villagers get what is due to themNata Patil president of the International Airport CommitteeAnother blast another crackThrice a day explosives are set off to level the hills around Ulwa which has 3000odd residents These hills are barely 100 metres 500 metres and 1 kilometre from their homes Anusaya Jadhav Madvi 75yearold resident has been living here for 60 years In 1986 we built a single floor house We have not had a single crack in all these years But in the past three months the house has been full of cracks because of the explosions We are scared out of our wits by the sudden blasts We live in fear of the house collapsing on usNata Patil Current homes in Ulwa villageSuresh Jadhav Anusayas son is scared to sleep at home We wake up very early so most of us take a nap in the afternoon But for the past few months even thats not possible There are three blasts mdash one each in the morning afternoon and evening Our walls vibrate from the impact What if one of the elderly suffers a heart attack from the sudden soundSudakar Koli 40 another resident has even recorded the blasts and wants to show it to the authorities This is the not the first time In 1982 the government took some of our land for a project that never saw the light of day and now this We are not opposing the airport but it should not be the cause of our deaths Koli saidSanjay Patil secretary International Airport CommitteeStones flying into school nearbyRupesh Patil Ulwa grampanchayat member said The explosions cause stones to fly 100 to 200 metres away The school is nearby what if it injures one of the children The Changunabai Dnyandeo Thakur educational society and English Medium Primary and Secondary School is barely 200 metres from the blasting site Shubhangi Gharat the principal of the school said We have now trained them to get to a safe place in case the blast causes damage to the school building or if it collapses We have also shifted the secondary school to the ground floor as it was too close to the siteAlso read Maharashtra government comes out with GR to handover forest land for NMIAOn Thursday Rupesh Patil led 5000 villagers to protest the ongoing work saying they would not allow work to resume till the authorities give them a proper alternative place to move intoAlso view Pallavi Purkayastha murder All you need to know about the gruesome crime