A high-level review meeting of the Revenue Department held here on Saturday has mooted to speed up the acquisition of land for the expansion of the Coimbatore international airport. Sources said that acquisition process is nearing completion in one block with the state-level committee approved for payment of compensation.
Commissioner of land administration V.K. Jeyakodi, who headed the meeting, also held discussions with land owners during a visit to areas identified for acquisition.
A Revenue Department official, who took part in the meeting, said that the meeting was held to assess the pace of the acquisition of land from 24 blocks spread in four villages around the airport.
The acquisition process is currently facing issues in regard to block 1 and 2 coming under Singanallur village in which 22.54 acres of land is used by the Airport Authority of India (AAI) for several decades under lease. Representatives of land owners also said that a very few land owners in all the 23 blocks, except in the 24th block which constitute defence land, are yet to give consent letters to the Revenue Department seeking higher compensation.
“No changes have been announced with regard to the compensation fixed earlier - ₹ 900 per sqft for agriculture land and ₹ 1, 500 per sqft for residential land. But the Commissioner of Land Administration, who heard our grievances, has agreed to look into various anomalies we cited including classification of agricultural and residential land,” said a land owner.
