New ordinance on land acquisition rattles Navi Mumbai airport PAPs

Project-affected-persons (PAPs) of Navi Mumbai international airport project are under apprehension after the Central Government approved an ordinance to amend the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, on Monday. The amendment will ease the ‘consent clause’, which has so far posed hurdles during the land acquisition of several mega infrastructure projects across the country.

Land acquisition has been the major factor for the delay in Navi Mumbai international airport, which resulted in the escalation of its cost for almost three times. However, the City and Industrial Development Corporation Ltd (Cidco) has shot down any plans of forceful land acquisition. “We have already acquired almost 90% land required for the airport. The acquisition of the remaining 10% land will also be done through the normal process,” said Dr Mohan Ninave, senior public relation officer of Cidco.

Dr Ninave added that the planning agency has been giving one of the best compensation packages in the state. So, there should not be any problem in acquiring the remaining land.

The amended land acquisition act, which included five new categories of projects, including projects under public-private-partnership (PPP) module, would not require prior consent from affected families. Such projects do not even need to carry out the Social Impact Assessment (SIM) of affected families.

Now, projects under PPP do not require consent of 70 percent to 80 percent of the landowners. However, the higher compensation will continue to strike balance between farmers’ (PAPs) rehabilitation and development. Several projects across the country have been stuck because of the slow pace of land acquisition. Even with one of the best package offered by Cidco, the land acquisition process met several hurdles including PAPs approaching the Bombay High Court.
However, the High Court dismissed the petition filed by farmers, seeking more clarity on the package offered.

According to the Cidco package, it has been offering 22.5% developed plots as compensation to those whose land has been acquired. The state government has offered 22.5% developed land with an average floor space index (FSI) of 2. The villagers would get FSI of 1.5 for 12.5% of developed land and 2.5% for the remaining 10% developed land.

-Amit Srivastava/dna