'We're not resisting. We're for the development and we want it to take place but anything the developer who has taken on this project does has to be done according to the law,' said Prasad Panvalkar. --PHOTO: AFP
MUMBAI - AN INDIAN family are refusing to budge from their home in Mumbai to make way for a new luxury apartment block being built by billionaire US property tycoon Donald Trump, they told AFP on Friday.
The Panvalkar family say they will not move from their first-floor flat in a building earmarked for demolition to make way for the tower block, claiming that Mr Trump's local partner has refused to give them alternative accommodation.
'We're not resisting. We're for the development and we want it to take place but anything the developer who has taken on this project does has to be done according to the law,' said Mr Prasad Panvalkar.
'They don't want to rehouse us on the same plot but want us to go away permanently,' he said. Small businessman Mr Panvalkar, 51, lives in the south Mumbai property with his wife, Smita, also 51, son Akshay, 20, and 50-year-old brother-in-law Atul Rao.
The flat, which belongs to Mr Rao, has been in the family's possession since the block was built in 1929, he added. He said he refused to be pressured into leaving and that he was legally entitled to be temporarily housed and offered a flat in the new development.
The building's other tenants have all left. Workmen have since moved in and shored up the interior with bamboo scaffolding. They were seen shifting rubble and fittings on Friday. The adjoining building has been demolished and the site is now fenced off. -- AFP
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