VVIP airport security: Rs 495 crore fixed to acquire 3 buildings

Jaipur: The district administration has fixed a compensation of Rs 495 crore to acquire three high-rise buildings near the state hangar, adjoining the Jaipur International Airport, which pose a security threat to VVIPs using the airstrip.

A proposal for the same has been forwarded to the urban development and housing (UDH) department after evaluating the construction cost and plot size of these buildings.

Speaking to TOI, district collector Siddharth Mahajan said, "The evaluation has been done taking into consideration the present DLC rates. It might, however, vary at the time of paying the compensation to owners. A bank account will be opened to deposit the compensation amount by the civic agency to acquire the land."

Recently, the UDH department recently had sent a proposal to the district administration to acquire these buildings. A senior official of UDH department said, "After receiving the compensation estimate, a meeting will be chaired by the chief secretary to decide on the civic body that will provide the compensation."

According to UDH sources, the finance department had earlier wanted the Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) to be spared of the additional burden as the matter related to the civil aviation department. However, it has not been decided if the compensation will be provided by some other government body other than the JDA.

The construction of high-rise buildings near the Jaipur airport was halted after objections were raised by chief minister Vasundhara Raje claiming them to be a 'security threat'. In August 2016, a letter was written to the ministry of civil aviation regarding the security threat posed by high-rise buildings in the vicinity of Jaipur, Jodhpur and Udaipur airports without mentioning any specific building.

Following this, the bureau of civil aviation security issued a draft on standard operating procedures (SOP) to monitor and regulate land use, including constructions, near airports.

It included scrutiny of other activities outside the perimeter wall up to a distance of 100 metres, in order to address security and safety concerns at the airport.

In February this year, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) went a step further and put a cap on the distance for constructing multi-storied buildings from the boundary wall (500 feet, about 152 metres) of Jaipur airport.

This brought three high-rises into the ambit of security threat. Out of the three, two developers had constructed buildings above 15 metres after receiving permission from the JDA.

Later, the UDH department too revoked the permission for high-rise buildings near the airport and state hangar. A proposal was then floated to acquire these buildings.