NAINA City Project takes a Legal Turn: 5 Villages Demands Cancellation

A writ case has been filed in the Bombay High Court by five villages within the Chipale Group Panchayat (CGP) in Panvel to stop the state government's Navi Mumbai International Airport Influence Notified Area (NAINA) project. This is the first time the contentious urban development plan has been challenged in court.

Vilas Phadke, a Vihighar resident and former member of the Zilla Parishad, submitted the case on behalf of the five CGP villages of Chipale, Vihighar, Bhokarpada, Bonshet, and Koproli. Farmers have resisted NAINA for more than ten years, according to Phadke and other opponents, who claim it is a "land grabbing plot."

“All 23 villages under various Gram Panchayats have passed resolutions against it. We are not against development, but our demand is that land acquisition should either follow the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act of 2013 or our villages should be included in the Panvel Municipal Corporation, with all homes outside the original villages regularized”, he said.

The petition contests the project's execution, claiming that it violates the 73rd Amendment, which gives Gram Panchayats more authority, and the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning (MRTP) Act.

The state government has promised the assembly that no decisions will be made in the NAINA region without first consulting stakeholders in response to the mounting resistance. Eknath Shinde, the deputy chief minister in charge of urban development, is scheduled to meet shortly.

Industries Minister Uday Samant reaffirmed, “CIDCO will not proceed without taking Gram Panchayats, public representatives, and NAINA PAPs into confidence.” Shinde, in a written statement, clarified, “CIDCO will include PAP houses within the 40% land area allocated to them. Therefore, the claim that 5,038 PAP houses will be demolished is false”, he added.

Project-Affected People (PAP) leader Sudhakar Patil expressed his concerns that villagers’ homes could be declared violations and demolished. He said, “Since no gaothan expansion was permitted, villagers had no choice but to build homes on agricultural land as their families grew. Now, CIDCO is using its authority to pressure them by restricting permissions for any development. The legal action has rekindled hope, and other villages are also preparing to approach the court.”