MADC appeals to villagers to cooperate with survey

PUNE: Senior officials of the

Maharashtra Airport Development Company Limited

(MADC) have appealed to villagers in Purandar to cooperate with the ground level

obstacle limitation survey

, stating that there was no reason to panic or fear.

Vishwas M Patil, the vice-chairman-cum-managing director of the Mumbai based company, said, “People have nothing to fear. Conducting survey on a plot does not mean that the state government will take away the land for the

airport

project. I want to reiterate that nothing has been finalized until now. The survey is being conducted to understand things from a technical point of view.”

He said the survey would give a clear technical picture of the area and help identify the obstacles.

“If the landowners say they will not allow any kind of survey in Purandar, it is impractical. We shall know how much land is exactly required for the airport only after the survey is over. The acquisition process will start in the later phase. The villagers must understand that conducting a survey doesn’t mean we shall take away their plots,” Patil said.

The landowners staged protest on the opening day of the survey last Thursday. Earlier, while taking out a protest march, the villagers had stressed they would not allow survey even on government and forest land. But they said their protests would be non-violent.

“We shall still stick to our promise of non-violence. But no work will be allowed on any land at Purandar in connection with the airport. The officials can say many things to appease us. But we have also done our homework and know their intentions,” Bapu Saheb Memane, the head of Pargaon village, told TOI.