'Will get AAI on board to pay rent for leased land'

COIMBATORE: In an attempt to ease the acquisition of land for the airport's expansion, the district administration has agreed to make the Airport Authority of India (AAI) pay 5% of the land cost as lease rent. The administration has also promised to acquire the leased land by December-end this year.
Meanwhile, time is running out for the Coimbatore International Airport, who requires showing 150m of unobstructed land on both sides of its runway to renew its license.
Three days after land owners in SIHS Colony protested against surveying of their land for the construction of a compound wall for the airport, the administration entered into fresh negotiations. "Of the 650 acres marked for acquisition, 60.95 acres is leased land. This was given by land owners to the airport after the World War-II," said a senior officer in airport land acquisition department. "The AAI has not paid the lease rent, once it was marked for acquisition in 2013. So, we have now agreed to arrange AAI to pay the land lease rent of 5% of the total land cost, as per our valuation this year," he said.
"We have agreed to acquire the leased land by December 31 this year," said the official. The rest of the 650 acres will be acquired by December 31, 2017, confirmed the official.
The owners of the leased land, which is spread across Kalapatti and Singanallur, say they have agreed to the proposal on the condition that they clear land arrears and acquire the land as per 2013 land acquisition rules. "We want them to pay the lease rent arrears since 2013 and 2014 and pay a proper compensation as per the land costs. If they agree to do both within the next three to six months, we are willing to give the land," said P R Jagannathan, a land owner in Singanallur. "We have also agreed that the rent and arrears paid to us now will be deducted from the final compensation," he said.
Meanwhile, the Coimbatore airport authorities are pressurizing the government to speed up the acquisition of at least 30 acres to 40 acres, so they can show 150m of unobstructed land on both sides of the runway. "We have informed the government that this 40 acres is critical and we need it by this year-end," said the airport director, G Prakash Reddy.