Another step towards international airport

Kuldip Bhatia
Ludhiana, October 29

The proposed international airport at Halwara has taken yet another step forward towards becoming a reality as the stage has been set by the Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (GLADA), the nodal agency for execution of the project on behalf of the Punjab Government, to hear the grievances of the affected persons and land owners at a special camp to be held at the community centre of Aittiana village on October 31.

Earlier, a notification for acquisition of 161.27 acre land of the village was issued by the Department of Housing and Urban Development on July 17 under section 11 of “The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition and Resettlement Act 2013”.

In accordance with the statutory requirement, GLADA had issued a notification under Section 4 of the Act for ‘social impact assessment’ (SIA) in February 2019 and the competent authority (District Revenue Officer) had conducted public hearing in May 2019 to receive objections from the land owners likely to be affected from the proposed acquisition of land for the airport.

Sources in GLADA said some 66 land owners had jointly submitted a dozen-odd objections besides the one lodged by Panchayat village on the proposed acquisition. In addition, some NRI land owners had sent their objections to the competent authority through e-mail.

The biggest issue before the land owners of Aittiana village, said an official connected with the process of land acquisition from the very beginning, was over the compensation to be paid by the government for the land as this issue has not been specifically discussed at any forum till now.

“In all probability, the approximate compensation to be paid to the land owners for each acre of land will be made clear by GLADA at the special camp to be held on October 31 as tentative deadline is December 31, 2019, for acquisition of land,” said the official.

The GLADA officials said the real work for construction of the international terminal at Halwara Airport would commence only after completion of the land acquisition process sometimes next year.