Farmers and businessmen are coming forward to relinquish their land for the international airport coming up at Bhogapuram in Vizianagaram district.
Chairman of the CMR Group, Mavuri Venkataramana has handed over 23 acres of land in Bhogapuram mandal to the district collector for the mega project, to be developed by Bhogapuram International Airport Company Ltd (BIACL), a press release issued by District Collector office said.
Venkataramana voluntarily handed over the 23 acres of land and also urged the farmers to come forward to relinquish their lands to the district administration for the project, which will boost development of the district and was essential for it.
According to the release, farmers in Kavuluwada village in the district have so far handed over 23 acres of land, while more farmers were willing for acquisition by the government.
District collector Vivek Yadav assured the farmers that the government will settle the compensation package at the earliest.
Meanwhile, the collector said government has identified 136 unemployed youth in Mudasarlapeta, Rellepeta, Byreddypalem and Mollikalapelem villages for imparting training to them in various trades through district rural development agency to create employment opportunities.
In June, the Andhra Pradesh government was granted Rs 650-crore as loan to be utilised by the government to acquire 2,400 acres for the Airport in the first phase.
The Hindu reported:
This is one of the major projects proposed by the Investment and Infrastructure department. Earlier the department proposed to acquire 13,000 acres under land pooling and it was met with stiff resistance from local people and farmers. Subsequently, the government decided to acquire only 2,400 acres in the first phase under the Land Acquisition Act after a series of meetings with the stakeholders. The government had agreed to pay more amount than stipulated under the LA Act under the Relief and Rehabilitation package, sources added.
Last week, Air Travellers Association (India) president D Varada Reddy, said that the Bhogapuram airport was not viable unless the passenger loads touched 2.5 million per annum.
"The Andhra Pradesh government is planning to build castles in the air without even having the basic seed money or land and clearance from the Ministry of Civil Aviation. It should give up acquisition of land and the unviable plan of building greenfield airport and let people of that area live in peace and allow them the food and social security," TNIE quoted Reddy as saying.
PTI Inputs