A seven-member committee has been tasked with reviewing the Social Impact Assessment (SIA) study to acquire the eight hectares of land sought by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to set up the domestic terminal adjacent to the new international terminal on the city side.
Former Deputy Collectors Indu Kaladharan and Shambudev, social scientists P. K. B. Nair and Thara Bai, councillors K. Sreekumar and Shajitha Nazar and Airports Authority of India (AAI) assistant general manager James are the members of the committee appointed by the district administration.
The committee has been asked to review the report of the SIA study conducted by the Loyola College of Social Sciences, Sreekaryam, and to prepare the report to be submitted to the government in order to begin land acquisition.
Although the committee held its first meeting on February 7, it could not take up the SIA report submitted to the district administration in January as the two councillors who are representatives of the residents in the seven-member committee did not turn up for the meet.
The SIA study found that 444 people would be affected by the acquisition of 8 hectares of land at Vayamoola, near Vallakadavu, for constructing the new domestic terminal. As many as, 73 families would be displaced and 32 families who have been living here for years would lose their land.
The study report has cited the compensation to be provided to the displaced, rehabilitation and livelihood measures and suggestions put forward by the Vallakkadavu-Vayyamoola Joint Action Council.
Discussions
District Collector K. Vasuki will hold talks with the residents in the notified area on February 18 to convince them about the necessity of land acquisition. The Collector will talk to the residents at Vayyamoola as part of a bid to quell the opposition by the locals and expedite the proceedings in view of pressure from the AAI for the land.
Action council chairman A. Saifuddin Haji said the council had asked the district administration not to inconvenience the local residents and abandon further land acquisition in the wake of reports of setting up a modern airport in the outskirts of the city. Residents’ associations in Karali and Vayyamoola area met on Saturday to discuss the SIA report and the future course of action in the wake of the District Collector’s proposed visit.
