Strangers get a cold stare from villagers in Bhogapuram mandal, where the Government is trying to acquire land for a greenfield international airport. In the past few months, revenue officials who had gone to survey the lands were chased away. These villagers are not willing to give in easily to any move to acquire their land.
It’s not that the villagers are against the construction of an international airport. It is the confusion created by the Government on the extent of land to be taken over and the frequent changes made to the acquisition plans that are responsible for their hostility.
The Government had originally planned to acquire 15,000 acres but cut it down by half following protests that the entire Bhogapuram mandal would be wiped out if such a large chunk of land was acquired. Then, it was further scaled down to around 5,000 acres and two plans – A and B – were made. Though plan A was initially accepted, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) preferred plan B in view of the favourable wind direction for landing and takeoff.
A majority of the villagers were reportedly convinced by the view taken by the aviation experts and were coming to terms with it. But the Government changed its mind again and reverted to plan A. This irked the villagers and they decided not to part with their lands.
The Government plans to compensate each displaced family with a house built on five cents either in Bhogapuram, Poosapatirega or Bheemunipatnam mandals.
The new terminal building at Visakhapatnam International Airport, built more than a decade ago, has already outlived its utility. Designed to handle 21,000 passengers a month or around 2.5 lakh passengers a year, the airport is now handling more than four times that number.
There is not much scope for expansion of the existing airport in view of the constraints of terrain and location of industries in the area.
* Why do they need thousands of acres for the airport? There are 1,100 acres of banjar land. We are ready to hand it over for the airport. - K. Appalanarasayya, Byreddypalem:
I earn a living by rearing sheep. We have been living here for generations. - K. Pydi Naidu, Dallipeta
We are not opposed to the airport but to the manner in which the Government had modified plans without taking us into confidence. They have not held proper interactions and gram sabhas. The plan was changed to favour real estate dealers. -- U. Siva Reddy, sarpanch, A. Ravivalasa
The Centre will only approve the project after an EIA is done and ascertaining technical feasibility. -- P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Union Minister of Civil Aviation
Plan A: 7 revenue panchayats; 20 habitations, 7,145 residents, 5551 acres
Plan B: 8 revenue panchayats, 20 habitations, 10,241 residents, 5,040 acres
(with inputs from V. Chalapathi Rao in Vizianagaram)
