Chandigarh: Short cut to international airport blocked

Chandigarh: The construction of a short route from Chandigarh to Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport in Mohali has been put on hold as the Punjab government is yet to give its consent for land acquisition for the project. The UT Administration had last year approved the construction of the short route to the airport for which a total of 51 acres of land, including 39.6 acres in Chandigarh and 12 acres each in Jagatpura and Khandala villages in Punjab, was to be acquired. The land was to be acquired by both the Punjab government and the UT administration, an official said. Since Punjab is yet to give its consent for land acquisition, the project had to be put on hold, the official said, adding that they cannot wait endlessly for land acquisition in Punjab.

Recently, the Punjab government had informed the Punjab and Haryana High Court that they are constructing a short route to the airport on their territory at a cost of Rs 125 crore, which will reduce the distance by 5 km. In November last year, the then UT Administrator Banwarilal Purohit had approved the completion of the land acquisition process under the 2018 negotiation policy. The UT then issued a notification offering compensation ranging from Rs 2.54 crore to Rs 3.34 crore per acre to land owners. However, they opposed the policy. Since 80 out of 110 land owners refused to give their land under the 2018 policy, the UT decided to switch to the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 for acquisition.