Airport expansion project: Land owners demand compensation

Coimbatore: More than 20 people from Irugur and surrounding areas met district collector K Rajamani on Tuesday, requesting him to compensate them immediately for their land that was earmarked for the city airport expansion project.
The project entails acquisition of 627.89 acres. While some land owners have already been compensated, there are others who have been waiting for more than 10 years for the district administration to pay for their land.
S Anbarasu, 48, a lathe workshop employee, is one among them. He had bought three cents of land in Irugur town panchayat in 1990 to construct a house. The district administration, however, issued a notice to acquire the land for the airport expansion. Today, he, along with his family, is staying at his mother-in-law’s house at Pattanam near Sulur.
He said, “The state government decided to acquire our land and fixed a price of Rs 1,500 per sqft. But I am yet to receive the payment. I am also not allowed to sell the land to others. If I could at least sell the land, I could buy a house in a rural area.”
Anbarasu urged the district administration to provide him compensation immediately.
K Ravi, 57, a private security guard from GN Mills, has a similar story to tell. The three cents land that he bought in Irugur town panchayat in 1996 to build a house was also earmarked for the airport expansion project. “I have been fighting for the compensation amount for the past 10 years. But the state government has been delaying the payment.”
On his part, the collector promised them to take necessary action immediately.
The 627.89 acres that is earmarked for acquisition falls under 24 blocks. The district administration has fixed Rs 1,500 per sqft for housing land and Rs 900 per sqft for agriculture land. The authorities have to raze down 634 houses for the project. The government has compensated land owners in block number 7.
It has been more than 10 years since the Airport Authority of India (AAI) floated the idea to expand the city airport. AAI is waiting for the district administration to complete land acquisition and hand over the land to them.