Airport PAP get lesson on township model

Cidco takes project-affected people to Pune’s Magarpatta and shows them how Pushpak Nagar can be developed

CBD BELAPUR: Although the projectaffected people of Navi Mumbai airport project are yet to get 22.5% at Pushapak Nagar, the builders are waiting to strike deals with them and get their plots.

Anticipating this, the City and Industrial Development Corporation has been appealing to the PAP not to part with their land but come together and develop a township like Pune’s Magarpatta.

To help the airport PAP understand the value of the 22.5% land that they will get for the land acquired by them, Cidco on Friday took a group of airport projectaffected people to Magarpatta.

The group was given a presentation and participated in an interactive session conducted by Cidco joint managing director V Radha and Magarpatta city managing director Satish Magar.

Magarpatta, a city within a city, is well equipped with all amenities. The city has been developed neither by a private developer nor any government agency. multi-speciality hospitals, gardens, play grounds and so on. It provides employment to 70,000 people.

The sale of flats and shops earned the families big money which they have re-invested and several have also leased their properties ensuring permanent returns. The IT hub here is owned by Magarpatta company which The Magar families who resided here came together to develop it. Spread over 400 acres, the city has been developed by 123 Magar families who decided not to sell their lands but develop it themselves, realising that it would ensure a better future for them.

The city has houses, shops, super markets, IT park, school, earns rents for its partners.

Every family in the city got compensation for their land and continue to earn from it. This would not have been possible had they sold their land in one go. Now they will continue to earn for generations.

Radha said: “The trip was organised to explain to the PAP how they can come together and develop their land together. The objective was also to understand if Navi Mumbai Airport Influence Notified Area (Naina)can be developed on similar lines.”

She added, “In c ase of Magarpatta, it took them five years to convince the government and get requisite permissions to develop. Another 15 years went in developing the city. But in case of the airport project, the government has itself come forward to get the farmers together. Hence, they should take advantage of it.”

Satish Magar replied to several queries by the PAP asking them to come together for a long-term benefit. He said, “The PAP should first hold discussions among them- selves and unite. If the farmers today do not adapt to changing times, they will be left behind.”

Radha said: “We will visit more such cities in the country and guide the PAP accordingly. Apart from development of cities, the interest of the PAP is also close to us and so we have taken up the initiative.”