The Navi Mumbai Police on Tuesday detained around 350 project-affected persons (PAPs) who lived on the Navi Mumbai International Airport site after they attempted to stage a protest outside CIDCO Bhavan in Belapur.
“The villagers had put up hoardings and gave us a notice regarding the protest. However, we called them a few days ago and requested them not to go ahead with the agitation. We told them that staging protests is not allowed during the COVID-19 pandemic, but they refused to obey our orders,” said senior police inspector Dinkar Mohite from Belapur police station.
Mr. Mohite said they had to detain them for unlawful assembly, rioting and disobedience of orders issued by a public servant. The villagers were let off after an FIR was registered. While 22 people have been named in the FIR, it also mentions the presence of 300 others at the site.
Residents of all 10 villages acquired for the airport project were present for the protest. The villagers said they had given a notice about the protest to the police around 15 days ago.
“It has been three years since our struggle for our rights started. Our homes and fields have been taken away. We don’t even have a home to stay now. Though our homes have numbers, they say we are not eligible for the package,” said Avita Mundkar, a PAP.
“Every officer is silent. No one has been answering our queries. All that belonged to us has been taken and we have not been even provided with jobs. CIDCO had promised to pay us rent till we were rehabilitated. We, however, got rent only for 18 months. We are paying at least ₹10,000 in rent. Though the fisherfolk have lost their livelihood, no package has been offered to them yet,” said Ajit Mhatre, another villager.
Protesting is our democratic right and they are not allowing us to do even that, Mr. Mhatre added.
