Pune: Lack of Funds And Corona Delays Purandar Airport Land Acquisition Process
Pune, October 7, 2020: The process of land acquisition for the proposed Purandar International Airport is in its final stages. But, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) situation and lack of funds are likely to delay the finalisation process.
Pune Divisional Commissioner Saurabh Rao told the press that all the important prerequisites and paperworks for the land acquisition has been completed. However, due to the lack of funds, the process of land acquisition hasn’t started yet. “We have approached the land owners through Zilla Parishad who are communicating with them about the land acquisition procedures. Talks at political level are also ongoing. However, because of the lack of fund availability, we are unable to start the process for land acquisition,” said Rao.
In February, the Maharashtra government had approved a grant of Rs 45 crore to the Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) to set up a joint venture or special purpose company for the development of Purandar Airport. Earlier, the state government had also approved a supplementary demand of around Rs 225 crore for the development of airports in the state during the monsoon session. It included a provision of Rs 150 crore for setting up a joint venture for Purandar Airport in the state as well. Out of this, Rs 45 crore was sanctioned to MADC.
An amount of Rs 2,713 crore was determined as compensation to the land owners, besides this for the replacement of fruit trees, wells and ponds it will cost around Rs 800 crore, therefore rounding the estimated total expenditure upto Rs 3,515 crore for the land. The state government had given its consent for this expenditure as well. However, the administration clarified that the land acquisition process of Purandar Airport was stalled due to non-availability of funds in the wake of pandemic situation.
About 2,832 hectares of land will be acquired for the airport. These lands are spread across seven villages namely Pargaon, Khanwadi, Munjwadi, Ekhatpur, Kumbharwalan, Vanpuri and Udachi Wadi. For this, deputy collector officers have been appointed as village wise land acquisition officers.
