1,185 hectares of private land will be acquired from six villages. Archive A camp to gather consent from landowners for the second phase of Jewar Airport land acquisition was organised by the Gautam Buddh Nagar administration Friday. According to officials, 1,185 hectares of private land will be acquired from the six villages — Karauli Bangar, Dayanat Pur, Kureb, Ranhera, Birampur and Mundrah.
Several residents from these villages say they are against the acquisition and have demanded better compensation and a roadmap for development.
At the camp organised in Karauli Bangar village Friday, residents put up a sign which read: “All residents of the village are not in favour of the compensation and displacement policy of the government for the greenfield airport. We take a pledge that we will oppose the fraudulent policies and will not agree to acquisition of our land and our displacement.”
During the meeting, several residents expressed disagreement over the acquisition process. Officials require the consent of 70% of the villagers for the next step of acquisition. “The entire village requests that we do not want to be displaced. It must also be made clear to us what the purpose of the public meetings are. We are not against development but against the practices involved in the process. It is a fact that the circle rates have not been revised in Jewar. The government must guarantee there will be development for us,” said Satender Singh, a resident.
In the second phase, land will be used for the third runway and commercial MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) related work, officials said. As per officials, the airport will be targeting 30 million passengers per annum in the second phase, which will be built at a cost of Rs 5,983 crore. A social impact assessment of the six villages has already been carried out by Gautam Buddh Nagar University.
Meetings and panchayats are being held in villages to decide on the next course of action. The villagers also alleged the government acts as a middleman as it buys their land for cheap and sells it at a higher rate, depriving them of crucial earnings. Over 450 families in Nagla Hukam village did not give their consent, locals said.
“The camp has been organised in two villages, there are four more to go. Once all camps have been held, we will have the data to ascertain the percentage of consent. Compensation will be given as per the Act in a fair manner. This is merely in-principle consent for land acquisition. The price of the land and other calculations will be made at a later stage,” said Balram Singh, ADM Land Acquisition, Gautam Buddh Nagar.
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