Jewar airport to give upto Rs. 894cr for resettlement

Rs.894.53 crore are approved for the rehabilitation and resettlement of families that will be affected by the implementation of the Noida International Greenfield Airport

The Uttar Pradesh cabinet on Tuesday approved Rs. 894.53 crore for the rehabilitation and resettlement of families that will be affected or displaced by the implementation of the Noida International Greenfield Airport project at Jewar. With the sanction of funds for the acquisition of land, work on the new airport will be expedited, said officials associated with the project.

Out of 1,426 hectares of land required, the administration is acquiring 1239.14 hectares from 3,000 farmers in the first phase of the airport project. (HT File Photo)

Out of 1,426 hectares of land required, the administration is acquiring 1239.14 hectares from 3,000 farmers in the first phase of the airport project.

The Greater Noida administration will distribute a total of Rs.2,850 crore to the farmers, whose land has to be acquired for the project along the 165km Yamuna Expressway.

On October 20, the Uttar Pradesh government had sanctioned Rs.250 crore for land acquisition.

The state government had, on October 30, 2018, notified the acquisition of 1,239.14 hectares of land for the development of the airport under Section 11 of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013. Later, the administration also started seeking objections from land owners under Section 19 of the act.

The government has resumed the land acquisition work after the Allahabad high court had, last month, dismissed a bunch of petitions by farmers seeking higher compensation for their land.

“The state government has directed the officials to expedite the work on this project so that the airport is developed as per the fixed timeline,” said Dhirendra Singh, Jewar MLA.

Singh also met Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and discussed details about the airport project in Lucknow.

“Now, since the Uttar Pradesh cabinet has approved the bid document, all hurdles in the way of the project have been cleared and work will start on the ground as soon as the developer will be finalised via global tender. The airport will boost economic activity and create jobs in this region,” the Jewar MLA said.

BN Singh, district magistrate, Gautam Budh Nagar, said, “We have distributed Rs.200 crore among farmers whose land is being acquired. The distribution of land compensation is in full swing. We are doing this with complete transparency and accountability by transferring money directly into their (landowners’) accounts.”

Farmers have harvested the wheat crop and the land in six villages—rohi, Parohi, Banwari Bas, Ramner, Dayanatpur and Ranhera, where the airport project will be developed under phase-1 is also lying vacant.

MLA Singh also said that since the land is empty there will be no hurdle in acquiring it for the airport project.

The Uttar Pradesh government has formed Noida International Airport Limited (NIAL) to monitor and develop the airport at Jewar.

The airport will be developed on a public-private partnership (PPP) model. The NIAL has been authorised to select the developer for the airport and give the land on lease for 90 years.

Just before the announcement of Lok Sabha poll schedule, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced that the Jewar airport would be completed in time and all formalities and processes for the same were underway.

The estimated budget for the project is between Rs.15,000 crore and Rs.20,000 crore.