Uprooted Villagers to Get 400 sq ft per Head

Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (formerly Nhava Sheva Port Trust) was commissioned on 26th May, 1989. For the construction of the Port, land to the extent of 1172 hectares was acquired through Government of Maharashtra from 12 villages in the 1980s. This was done as part of the land acquisition for the Navi Mumbai Project. The Villagers would get back developed land to the extent of 12.5% of the land acquired from each of them.

The Government claims that even though the Supreme Court has not supported the 12.5% back scheme, it will return one m2 of developed land out of every sq m of acquired land to the villagers. Only 35.5 ha of land is returned under the scheme with 111 ha yet to be distributed.

The fishermen complain that JNPT has blocked all the estuaries, their catchment area has dried up.