Another 82-hectare of land acquired from farmers for upcoming Jewar airport

The development comes five days after 44 villagers were arrested over a protest and planned blockade of a toll plaza, Yamuna Expressway and local market

The Gautam Buddh Nagar administration on Saturday acquired another 82-hectare of land from farmers for the upcoming Jewar airport, completing 75 per cent of required acquisition for the first phase of the project.

The 82-hectare land was acquired from Dayanatpur village and transferred to the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA), the nodal agency for the airport, officials said.  "So far 923-hectare of the 1,239-hectare required for first phase of the Greenfield International Airport has been acquired and transferred to YEIDA," District Magistrate B N Singh said, according to an official statement.  

The development comes five days after 44 villagers in Jewar were arrested over their protest and planned blockade of a toll plaza, Yamuna Expressway and local market. They were demanding increased compensation for their land being acquired by the government for the airport.

Deputy Collector and Jewar airport project in-charge Abhay Singh said the district administration has so far disbursed a compensation of 950 hectare land out of the 1,239-hectare land.  "This is 77 per cent of total compensation which is to be disbursed. Around Rs 2,355 crore have been disbursed to 4,360 land owners in Jewar," Singh told PTI.

The first phase of the airport would be spread over 1,334 hectare and is expected to be completed by 2023, according to officials.

The airport, second in the national capital region after Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport, will be spread over 5,000 hectare and cost an estimated Rs 15,754 crore. It is touted to have six to eight runways, the maximum in India, when fully built, the officials said.

A global tender was floated to hire a developer for the proposed airport on May 30 by the Noida International Airport Limited (NIAL), an agency floated by the UP government for managing the mega project in Gautam Buddh Nagar district.

The bidding process for the airport was floated on May 30 and the last date for receiving queries was July 1. The bid would be finalised on November 29 and work on ground is expected by early 2020, according to the officials.