Government needs 66 acres more to upgrade Karnal aviation club

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, November 2

The requirement of land for expansion of the Haryana Institute of Civil Aviation, Karnal, has changed again and now the club will be developed in 172 acres for which the department requires additional 66 acres.

The government already owns 106 acres and to meet the requirement, it needs additional 66 acres, but farmers have given consent for only 38 acres.

In 2014, the additional land requirement was 18 acres, which was revised to 28 acres, later to 280 acres, and again to 55 acres, but now it has finally agreed on 66 acres.

Clarify rates

The Centre had introduced a land acquisition Act, but it is not being followed by the state government in this project. We are in the favour of development and we have agreed to provide our land for the aviation club if the government adheres to the Central land acquisition Act, but the government should clarify how much land it requires and how much it will pay. —Bhavneet Singh Kaliana, Resident of kulvehri

“The aviation club will be upgraded in 172 acres for which we need 66 acres more. A couple of farmers have given conditional consent that their remaining land should also be purchased, which has been accepted,” said Deputy Commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav. He said the rates were negotiated by the revenue authorities and also justified as the collector rates.

The DC said the case of land acquisition had been sent to the state government for final approval after which the work would be started.

The announcement to upgrade the aviation club was made in 2014 by CM Manohar Lal Khattar for which the Civil Aviation Department had sought consent from farmers of Budha Khera, Kulvehri and Newal. The runway would be extended to 5,000 ft from 3,000 ft at present.

The expansion of the club has been hanging fire for several years as farmers have been reluctant in offering land on the e-Bhoomi portal. Still some farmers whose land is adjacent to the club are reluctant in offering their land as they are not happy with the process being adopted by the government to acquire the land. Farmers said different requirements of land for the project had been made at different times, which has confused them.

Bhavneet Singh Kaliana, a resident of Kulvehri, said the Centre had introduced a land acquisition Act, but it was not being followed by the state government in this project. “We are in the favour of development of district and we have agreed to provide our land for the aviation club if the government adheres to the Central land acquisition Act,” he said, adding that the government should clarify how much land it requires for the project and the rates as well.

Inderpreet Singh Ahuja, another farmer, said the government was seeking land for the upgrade of the aviation club, which was also one of the means of transport like roadways and railways.

“If it can implement the land acquisition Act in the state for roadways and railways then why not for airways,” he questioned. “The Act says the market value would be decided as per Section 26 of the Act, according to which the rates of immediate neighbouring villages are also considered to determine the market rate, but the state government is not considering that fact,” he said.

Ahuja alleged that there was no provision for the rehabilitation in the direct purchase policy of Haryana. “We will approach the court if the government forcefully acquires the land of farmers,” he said.