Airport expansion: residents block officials from evaluating houses

Residents of G.K.V. Nagar and the nearby areas, for which the State Government issued notification for taking over the land for expansion of Coimbatore International Airport, blocked revenue officials led by the District Revenue Officer (Land Acquisition) from evaluating their houses on Tuesday.

The residential area is part of 627.89 acres that the government is trying to acquire as part of the airport expansion project. The expansion project is pending for more than 13 years due to delay in acquiring the required land. This includes 134.32 acres of defence land – of which 122.12 acres is attached to the Air Force, 6.38 acres to the Navy and the remaining 5.82 acres to the Army.

On Wednesday, the residents met the District Revenue Officer, at the collectorate. The DRO explained that the land would have to be taken over as the government has issued the 3 (I) notification to take over the land. This resulted in an argument and residents met the District Collector Archana Patnaik.

Stating that they would continue fighting for their houses and lands, some residents even asked the District Administration to take the airport far away from the city like how new airports are established in other bigger cities.

However another section of the land owners said that they were completely aware that their land would be acquired and that they were only wanted to know how much they would receive as compensation. They pressed for uniform compensation as they claimed that there was difference in the guideline value of adjoining lands.

Ms. Archana Patnaik said that the officials concerned have been asked to look into the claim made by residents that the Airport Authority of India had written to the State Government to exclude GKV Nagar from the expansion plan.

The residents are expected to meet the Collector in a week again. She said that the entire issue will be dealt with an objective view.