With the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) halting the process to issue letters of intent (LoIs) to around 500 land owners, the Aerotropolis project, an extension of Aerocity, is in the doldrums.
It was in September when GMADA started issuing LoIs for 1,600 acres of land acquired for the township. It planned to complete the process within a couple of months and begin the land development in November.
However, now, it has stated that around 500 land owners will not be issued LoIs as they got their land registered after the preliminary notification for land acquisition had been issued. So far, GMADA has issued LoIs for only 600 acres of the acquired land. The process is still pending for the remaining 1,000 acres.
A senior GMADA official, who is associated with the project, admitted that the project will get delayed as around 500 cases of landlords have been sent to the district court for decision. “GMADA cannot take a decision on it as the financial transaction has taken place between the buyer and seller,” said the official, who did not wish to be named.
The move has led to a strong resentment among the affected land owners. Gurminder Singh Bakarpur, one of the land owners, said: “GMADA is blaming us and putting the project on the back burner just to benefit private players in Aerocity. Why didn’t the officials tell the revenue department to stop registering the land?”
{{/usCountry}}The move has led to a strong resentment among the affected land owners. Gurminder Singh Bakarpur, one of the land owners, said: “GMADA is blaming us and putting the project on the back burner just to benefit private players in Aerocity. Why didn’t the officials tell the revenue department to stop registering the land?”
{{/usCountry}}Another land owner, Sukhminder Singh, said: “If they fail to resolve the issue, we will seek legal help. After a protest last week, housing minister Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria assured us that he will get it approved in the cabinet. But nothing has been done. We will wait for some more time, failing which, we will intensify our protest.”
The project so far
It was in May 2017 when GMADA started the process of land acquisition for Aerotropolis, the seventh independent township being developed by it. In all, 1,600 acres of land were acquired on both sides of the Zirakpur-Banur road.
GMADA issued notifications under Section 11 of the Land Acquisition Act in February and August last year for different blocks. The section pertains to preliminary notification for acquiring land and calling objections from land owners.
In February this year, compensation was announced for the 1,600-acre acquired land in 11 villages — Bakarpur, Rurka, Safipur, Matran, Siaun, Manauli, Patton, Saini Majra, Chau Majra, Naraingarh and Chhat. The compensation ranged from ₹1.82 crore to ₹4 crore per acre, the highest provided by GMADA to date.
While 1,400 acres are privately owned, the remaining is panchayat land. Owners of around 1,300 acres applied for the land pooling scheme instead of monetary compensation. As per the policy, for every one acre of land acquired from them, they will get 1,000 square yards of developed residential plots and 200 square yards of commercial plots, excluding parking.