Two months after UT administrator Banwarilal Purohit approved the acquisition of 35 acres for the construction of a shorter route to Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport in Mohali through UT’s negotiation policy, the UT administration has offered a compensation ranging from ₹2.54 crore to ₹3.34 crore per acre to landowners for the acquisition.
The rate for 11.88 acres in Burail is ₹2.54 crore per acre and ₹3.34 crore per acre for 22.73 acres in Char Taraf Burail.
On November 16, Purohit gave the green light to complete the process through UT’s Negotiation Policy of 2018, which aims to expedite land acquisition while offering incentives in addition to compensation.
According to the notification issued, compensation for the land, structures and trees will be paid within six months from the date of receiving consent from the landowners concerned. In case of a delay of more than six months in reaching a consensus on the rates, 6% simple interest will be paid on the compensation amount until the actual payments are made, as stated in the notification.
The notification further stated that after the completion of the land acquisition process through UT’s Negotiation Policy, no other benefits mentioned in the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation, and Resettlement Act, 2013, shall be payable to the landowners whose land is acquired under the policy.
{{/usCountry}}The notification further stated that after the completion of the land acquisition process through UT’s Negotiation Policy, no other benefits mentioned in the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation, and Resettlement Act, 2013, shall be payable to the landowners whose land is acquired under the policy.
{{/usCountry}}However, the landowners will also benefit from waiver of stamp duty and registration fees on purchase of any land/building in Chandigarh using the compensation amount within two years from the date of payment.
BJP councillor from Ward Number 14, Kuljeet Singh Sandhu, who raised the issue with the UT administrator, said having two rates in the same city was not fair and will be injustice with landowners. He added, “The urban rate under the municipal corporation should be given, failing which we will hold a protest.”
A total of 51 acres needs to be acquired for the project of which 39.6 acres fall in Chandigarh and the remaining 12 acres in Punjab’s Jagatpura and Khandala villages.
A total of 34.61 acres will be acquired in Chandigarh through acquisition. This includes 11.88 acres in Burail and 22.73 acres in Char Taraf Burail.
Further, 3.76 acres of defence land in these revenue estates will be transferred by the Union ministry of defence.
New road to cut travel time to five minutes
The Chandigarh administration is planning the shorter route from near Sector 48. The new road will start from the T-point intersection of Vikas Marg (coming from Sector-43 ISBT) and Purv Marg (coming from Tribune Chowk).
The current distance from this intersection to the airport is 11.5 km after traversing through Mohali. The shorter route will reduce this to around 3.5 km, thereby bringing the travel time down from 25 minutes to 5 minutes.
The planned shorter route will be 60 meters wide, with three main carriageways, two service lanes, and 2-meter-wide cycle tracks on both sides.