Wahal village sarpanch Pooja Patil said that the residents will start a protest if steps are not taken to address the issue. (Express photo by Narendra Vaskar)As the work on the Navi Mumbai International Airport goes on in full steam to meet the 2024 deadline, the residents of Wahal village near the airport boundary alleged that the blasting operations during the construction work are damaging their homes.
Kesarinath Dapolkar, a resident, claimed that almost all houses in the village developed cracks due to the ongoing blasting work.
CIDCO officials acknowledged that they received a complaint from the villagers. (Express photo by Narendra Vaskar) On November 4, the village sarpanch Pooja Patil wrote a letter to the City & Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) stating the problems being faced by villagers due to blasting activity and the damage these explosions are causing to the houses. In the letter, Patil claimed that despite instructions to carry out controlled blasting, the contractor is conducting bore blasting causing problems for the residents.
She also said that the residents will start a protest if steps are not taken to address the issue.
“My two sons are doing small work and hardly earn anything. We don’t have any other house to shift to. If the structure falls, where will we go? At 1 pm they do blasting and the tremors are so severe that we all run out of our house fearing that it may fall,” Ashatai Baburao Dapolkar (60), a local from the village. Dapolkar claimed that her house had developed cracks due to frequent blasting activity.
“The activity is being done as per the permissible limits only,” Dr Sanjay Mukherjee (IAS) Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, CIDCO said. (Express photo by Narendra Vaskar) CIDCO officials acknowledged that they received a complaint from the villagers. CIDCO has said that they have started monitoring and recording vibrations of daily control blasts under the supervision and guidance of the Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (CIMFR) near Wahal village in presence of villagers and nearby residents. CIDCO has said that the recorded blast vibrations are only 0.50 mm as against the permissible limit of 10 mm.
“We have appointed the Government of India institute to monitor the situation. The activity is being done as per the permissible limits only,” Dr Sanjay Mukherjee (IAS) Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, CIDCO said.
On the status of the project, Mukherjee said that all the pre-development work that was required to be done for the project has been completed by CIDCO.
Navi Mumbai International airport is slated to be open by the end of 2024 and the Adani group is the contractor for this airport.