Mumbai: Rattled by the landslide at the site for the airport at Navi Mumbai on Saturday, allegedly due to blasting work, villagers of Siddharth Nagar and Ganeshpuri said they will be disrupting work from Monday till they are rehabilitated.
Four villagers and a seven-year-old boy were injured in the landslide, as well as five officials from GVK and one from CIDCO. “It could have been life-threatening, but fortunately all are safe. It could be a lot worse if we aren’t rehabilitated, and the work continues. We have informed the police that five villagers were injured, but we aren’t sure if they have recorded this,” Rajaram Patil, a Project Affected Person (PAP) from Siddharth Nagar, said.
Villagers said Maruti Kamble (21), Saleem Khan (29), Arti Kevat (19), Nanda Singankar (26) and Vinay Yatre (7) were injured in the landslide. Police have mentioned names of six injured people, and claimed the landslide had affected hutments. Villagers also suspect that authorities and the police are covering up some deaths, which the latter have denied.
The injured GVK employees are Rajesh Sharma, a geologist, Dhiraj M.K., a safety officer, Muzafferuddin Mohammad Afzaruddin and Dhiraj Gupta, mining engineers, Shashank Nikam, an assistant surveyor and Mayur Kamble, an assistant engineer from Cidco. Mr. Nikam, who recently joined GVK, was at the site when he was hit by a stone, injuring his arm. “I wanted to see how the blasting is done, when the landslide took place. I thought I’d be buried under the rocks, but nothing major happened.”
CIDCO officials were unavailable for comment.
