Click to play videoMumbai: Robbie Gonsalves lost an old friend but as he joined the funeral procession at a 400-year-old cemetery in a church, he knew he had much more to lose.
The Mumbai airport has decided to forcefully acquire the cemetery and as a result all the graves including the freshly dug one for Gonsalves’s friend could soon be desecrate by large jets.
"My grandfather was buried here, his son and his wife were buried here, and so were my mom and dad. I want to be buried here as well,” says.
However, Gonsalves’s wish will remain unfulfilled if the Airports authority has its way and acquires 276 acres of land around the International Airport to build a second runway.
The move will displace 7,000 residents of Sahar village and the 400-year-old church will be the first to go.
With a new airport planned in Navi Mumbai, the locals allege that airport expansion is just an excuse to grab their land.
"The land is given to a developer GVK Reddy and we know that aeronautical activity will not take place but other commercial activities will take place like malls and all,” says Parish Priest, Sahar Church, Father Allwyn.
Maharahtra has 50 Catholic churches and the community hears that the government plans to acquire 14 of them. So no wonder that the community feels victimised.
And while the church rallies its flock, the movement has found support from other communities.
“Today it's the church, tomorrow it will be the masjid. The day after it will be the temple. How long will you play with people's religious sentiments?” says president, Airport Jhopadpatti Sangharsh Samitti, N S Khan.
These are tough questions the government doesn’t have answer to.
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