For the third consecutive year, Dungi village near the proposed Navi Mumbai international airport has got flooded. The village was first flooded in 2019 after a river was diverted as part of the airport work.
Angry villagers on Monday obstructed vehicles on Uran-Panvel road. “Water has entered all 126 houses in the village. Nearly 300 residents were out on the road on Monday. The Panvel police, tehsildar and sub-divisional officer promised us a meeting with CIDCO officials on Tuesday. If nothing fruitful comes out of the meeting, we will next block traffic on Panvel-JNPT road,” Adesh Naik, a villager, said.
Since 2019, the CIDCO has been offering four months’ rent money to the villagers to relocate during monsoon. “Around one-and-half-month ago, we were offered the money, but the villagers refused to take it and instead demanded a full rehabilitation similar to the one offered to the residents of 10 villages whose land had been acquired for the airport project. How long do we survive like this?” Mr. Naik said.
An official from the CIDCO said, “We had completed all pre-monsoon works at Dungi village, but floods occurred because of heavy rain. We have forwarded the proposal of rehabilitating the villagers to Raigad collector.”
