Noida, Sep 14 (PTI) Jewar MLA Dhirendra Singh on Wednesday wrote to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, letting him know about the demands of the farmers and villagers whose land is to be acquired for the second phase development of the Noida International Airport.

The BJP legislator wrote a letter to the CM after a meeting with the affected villagers and local government officials concerned about the upcoming Greenfield airport in his constituency in Gautam Buddh Nagar district of the western UP.

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Meerut Divisional Commissioner Surendra Singh, Gautam Buddh Nagar DM Suhas L Yathiraj, Noida International Airport Limited (NIAL) chairman Arun Vir Singh, Airport project's nodal officer Shailendra Bhatia, among others, were part of the meeting.

While work for the first phase of the Noida International Airport is still going on, the process for the acquisition of land for its second phase is also underway as per norms of the ‘Right to fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013'.

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Officials said that the state government had in March 2021 approved a proposal for acquisition of 1,365 hectares of land for the second phase development of the airport and had approved a budget of Rs 2,890 crore for its construction, but so far only around 30 per cent villagers have given their consent for the acquisition.

According to the law, consent of over 70 per cent villagers is needed for the land acquisition, the officials added.

In his letter to Adityanath, the Jewar MLA apprised him of Wednesday's meeting and shared with him the list of demands of the residents of villages Ranhera, Kuraib, Nangla Jahanu, Birampur, Mundrah etc whose land is to be acquired.

The villagers have demanded that the monetary compensation be made Rs 5,600 per sq metre instead of Rs 2,300 per sq metre as was given to beneficiaries of phase one.

“All the affected villages have been declared as cities for giving compensation, so the compensation payable by the local authorities should be Rs 5,600 per square metre or it should be determined by the market value of the land as per section 26 of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013,” the villagers demanded.

They also sought that the rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) site for them be changed from Jewar Bangar to Tirthali cut located on Rabupura-Jewar road.

“According to the basic spirit and objectives of the Land Acquisition Act 2013, plots equivalent to the size of the existing houses of villagers, property premises, including that of domestic animals, should be given,” the villagers demanded.

They also asked the CM to ensure that the people affected by the airport project are fairly compensated with employment opportunities and traditional occupations.

They also demanded that a market place (vendor zone) be established at the R&R site where plots should be allotted to the displaced persons.

“A time-bound plan should be made to provide jobs to the displaced. If the affected villager buys land property at another place, then he should be exempted from stamp duty and registration fee,” the villagers demanded.

The Greenfield airport is proposed in a 5,000 hectare area and billed to be India's largest upon completion with five to six runways and an annual passenger capacity of 70 million.

The Rs 29,560 crore airport is being developed by Swiss-firm Zurich International Airport AG as concessionaire.

The first phase of the airport is scheduled to be completed by September 2024, according to officials.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)