The land owners of Singanallur village have petitioned the Airport Director to arrange for the settlement of the lease rent arrears to the land owners and take into account the various guidelines of the Supreme Court while acquiring lands for the future expansion of the airport.
In a letter to the Airport Director, the spokesperson for the land owners, P.R. Jagannathan, pointed out that the lease rent arrears pending from March 2009 till date needs to be settled as suggested by the Revenue Divisional Officer in his letter dated June 1, 2007. He also recalled the suggestion for the release of the leased land.
Expansion
Mr. Jagannathan stated that for the future expansion of the airport, the Airports Authority of India has plans to acquire 613 acres and added that their lands were situated far away from the southern side of the compound wall and were lying unutilised for more than 50 years.
He also pointed out the recent judgement of the Supreme Court published on May 15, 2010 wherein the court had stated that the lands required for the project only were to be acquired and future acquisition of lands for the projects should be avoided, more than the market value of the lands should be given as compensation to the land owners, payment of compensation should be done as early as possible, filing of cases in court regarding grievances of land owners should be reduced and also that the Land Acquisition Act of 1894 which was century old should be scrapped.
The land owners urged the AAI to refer to the above facts and act accordingly.
