Land acquisition to expand Hubli airport begins

The state government has issued preliminary notification for the acquisition of 650 acres of additional land near the Hubli airport for its expansion.

The Airports Authority of India has prepared a master plan for upgrading the airport to handle Boeing 747 aircraft and has sought an additional 650 acres.

The Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) has been designated as the authorised agency to issue a public notice, giving details of the revenue survey numbers of the land for inviting objections from the parties affected.

Most of the land to be acquired under the master plan is agricultural land while some fall in the Gokul industrial area and the remaining are residential.

A joint survey by the AAI and revenue officials had identified nearly 200 houses in Renuka Nagar, Kumara Park, Radhakrishnan Nagar, Omkar Nagar, Laxmi Nagar and Sarswatipuram that would be affected by the expansion.

Dharwad deputy commissioner MS Srikar has submitted a report to the state infrastructure development department, which estimated the project cost to be Rs 194 crore including the compensation to be paid to the owners of acquired land and residential buildings. According to the DC, the entire process may take eight months.

KIADB officials will negotiate with each affected party individually to acquire the property with their consent. Srikar has promised those losing their land/buildings that they would be paid a compensation based on "just and fair" evaluation of their properties and has appealed to them not be influenced by the middlemen promising the exclusion of their houses from acquisition or giving false hopes.

"It is better for the land/building owners to agree for the consent award with the KIADB as it would fetch them better compensation than opting for the acquisition under the Land Acquisition Act. The time taken to complete the process will also be less," Srikar said.

The district administration has already held preliminary meeting with the residents of affected colonies who have formed a citizen's committee to negotiate with the district administration and KIADB collectively to get the best deal.

The committee members have opted for collective negotiation as they felt that some members may not be skilled to handle the negotiation individually.

They have demanded stamp duty exemption on the new site they would have to construct houses, third party evaluation of their property and compensation equal to five times the market price.

The state government in the first phase has already released Rs 20 crore out of the Rs 50 crore earmarked for the project.