After lockdown lull, Jewar airport work reactivated

Greater Noida: Setting the ball rolling for the construction of Jewar airport after Unlock 1.0 was announced by the government, the district administration on Monday constituted a committee to find out the value of assets against which compensation has to be awarded to the land owners in Jewar Bangar village.
The four-member committee, comprising employees of public works department (PWD), irrigation department, forest department and land department, would cover 48 hectares of land in the coming days to prepare a list of trees, crops, tube wells, hand pumps and permanent structures that would have to be uprooted or razed to rehabilitate the Jewar airport project-affected families.
The panel is formed to arrive at a fair value of different assets in consultation with the affected families, officials said.
Additional district magistrate (land acquisition) of Gautam Budh Nagar, Balram Singh, said, “Population and land survey is already going on to find out the number of families which are staying in the area, along with livestock. In the next few days, the members of the committee would start surveying the area to carry out valuation of buildings, trees, wells, crops, tube wells, bore wells, along with other valuable assets.”
The administration had notified Section 11 to acquire land in Jewar Bangar on April 13 and invited objections and suggestions of the people within 60-day period.
“So far, no objections have been received. Nor have we received any representation to push the deadline further due to the situation for the novel coronavirus yet. People still have 10 more days to put forward their grievances” said Balram.
The acquisition process in Jewar Bangar village area is also expected to proceed smoothly since the administration would be offering compensation of Rs 2,750 per sq mt for land, a significantly higher amount that was offered to families staying in the six villages that had been acquired for the construction of the greenfield airport.
Besides the land compensation, the administration would also pay money for the assets that would be demolished in the Jewar Bangar village area.
The 48-hectare land parcel in Jewar Bangar village would be transformed into a residential colony to house the 3,627 families that would be uprooted from the six villages.
The Uttar Pradesh government had approved Rs 238 crore last year for the development roads, drainage system, streetlights, water connection, post offices, schools and community health centres among other facilities near the airport.
The Jewar airport is likely to start operations in its first phase with two runways — expandable to six by the end of the fourth phase — and is currently chasing a deadline of late 2023 or early 2024.