Noida: The road has been cleared for the Jewar airport project to go ahead with 2,357 farmers giving written consent for acquisition of 916 hectares of agricultural land, officials say.
The development comes a week after the proposed airport project in Greater Noida’s Gautam Buddh Nagar district hung in the balance.
Earlier, Dhirendra Singh, the MLA from Jewar, had said that the project needed at least 860 hectares to get a green light. The total land required for the first phase of the project is 1,300 hectares, out of which the government already owns about 100 hectares.
On Friday, the authorities acquired 115 hectares from 206 farmers.
"About 75 per cent of the required land has been acquired from the farmers with their consent. The roadblocks for the airport project have been cleared. Things are under control," Singh told News18 on Friday.
However, under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, the authorities must get consent from at least 70 per cent of the affected families in the region. That number has not yet been reached as the authorities are yet to get consent from the landless farmers. The figure is close to the target, though, a source in the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) said.
"We will work to get consent from the landless farmers and others who have not yet agreed to give their land. I have not yet received the official list for the percentage of consenting families," Singh said.
According to the YEIDA source, the percentage of affected families is close to reaching 70 per cent. There are about 3,600 farmers in the region and over 2,300 farmers have already agreed to give their land. The official announcement should come by Saturday evening.
According to authorities, the next process will involve triggering of section 11 of the Land Act, where all farmers will be tallied and a detailed report will be filed. The Act provides three months to complete the process, but it should be completed in a month in Jewar as most of the work has been done, the source said.
After the report, tender and bidding process will begin and the rehabilitation process of farmers will start after two months. "We'll initially start work on the agricultural land. Work on the residential plot of farmers will be done after that," the source added.
Meanwhile, the layout for land for the purpose of rehabilitation will be done simultaneously.
A week earlier, the project faced an uncertain future when the authorities missed the August 31 deadline to acquire the requisite land. The land acquisition process gathered momentum after the authorities got a one-week extension. MLA Dhirendra Singh has been on a village-to-village drive to appeal to the farmers and convince them to give their land.
"There has been a positive response to my efforts. Even the farmers who were adamant on not selling their land have now given their consent after getting assurances about the compensation package," he said.
Each affected family will get Rs 2,300 per square metre for their land, a developed plot for rehabilitation in Jewar region, which is equivalent to 50 per cent of their residential plot (in case their houses come under the first phase of the project), Rs 5,85,000 as rehabilitative cost and a job for one family member.
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