Airport land losers protest at HDUDA

Hubballi: Demanding compensation, the land losers of Hubballi airport expansion project laid siege to the Hubballi-Dharwad Urban Development Authority (HDUDA) office when a pre-budget meeting was in progress here on Saturday. District minister Vinay Kulkarni, leader of opposition Jagadish Shettar, MLA Arvind Bellad and HDUDA chairman Anwar Mudhol took part in the meeting.
The protesters alleged that 850 acres of land along Gokul road, at Omkar Nagar and other areas were acquired for the expansion of the airport. Of the land acquired include 11.30 acres of Akrama-Sakrama land. However, compensation is not paid to the land losers though Rs 4.5 crore meant for the payment of the compensation is lying unused with the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board.

The protesters alleged that though the state government had promised of allotting sites to the land losers at Jagadish Nagar, Lohia Nagar and Bhairidevarkoppa. However, no action has been taken so far in this regard. The protesters also alleged that of the 850 acres acquired, only 650 acres are utilized and the rest are sold to private companies.

Later, leaders assured the protesters of holding a meeting on March 8 to discuss the matter. The protesters included Raghotham Kulkarni, Santosh Anandgal, Gopal Kulkarni and others.