Land acquisition problems for the country?s first aerotropolis at Andal in Durgapur refuse to go away even though promoters of the project dismiss protests as “stray incidents”.
Last month 500 villagers led by Trinamool Congress activists torched the tent-office of Bengal Aerotropolis Projects Ltd (BAPL), the company executing the project in Andal.
?One or two such incidents can happen in case of such big projects. Our work is on in full swing,? said Subrata Paul, CEO, BAPL. According to him, Changi Airport International, which has a 26% stake in the project, is doing the route planning.
Dona Goswami, leader of Krishak O Khetmajoor Sangram Committee, said land owners in Bhadar, Andal, Dhupchurulia, Tamla and Arati Mouzas have asked for a minimum of Rs 24 lakh per acre as compensation.
?Sharecroppers should get half the compensation,? he said. According to him, there are about 3,000 sharecroppers in the region.
?So far we have disbursed almost 80% of the compensation to the farmers in 1049 acres WBIDC has handed over to us,? Paul said.
According to him, there are some problems with sharecroppers and the district administration is preparing a list of unrecorded bargadars. ?It will be complete by May we hope,? he said. ?bargadars can only be compensated after that,? he added.
Meanwhile, the district administration has announced that the unregistered bargadars in possession of NREGA card will be eligible for getting compensation.
Taking a leaf from the Singur episode, West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) had started building political consensus in the area since 2008. The government had also announced land for land compensation apart from cash for land losers.
Earlier this year, the government handed over the second tranche of 515 acres of land to the Bengal Aerotropolis Projects Ltd (BAPL). With the second tranche in possession, BAPL has a total of 1,049 acres in possession including 650 acres required for the project.