1,185 hectare land's acquisition remains for stage 2 of Noida Airport

Acquisition of 1,185 hectare of land from six villages in Jewar is required for the stage two of the Noida International Airport, Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary Rajendra Kumar Tiwari was informed on Friday.

The land would be used for building a third runway, maintenance, repair and overhaul facilities and other aviation-related work at the airport site, Tiwari was told by project officials.

The information was shared as Tiwari, who is also the chairman of the Noida International Airport Limited (NIAL), reviewed progress on the greenfield project coming up in Gautam Buddh Nagar district's Jewar, some 80 km off Delhi.

A presentation of the Social Impact Assessment (SIA) report of villages displaced due to land acquisition for the third runway on phase one of the stage two of the Noida airport was made at the chief secretary's office in Lucknow on Friday, according to an official statement.

"The SIA for six villages of Karauli Bangar, Dayanatpur, Kuraib, Ranhera, Mudhrah and Virampur for expansion (Phase-1, Stage-2) of the Noida International Airport was presented before the chief secretary. The SIA report has been prepared by the Gautam Buddha University," the statement read.

"He was informed in the meeting that land is being acquired for the third runway, MRO (Maintenance, Repair, Overhaul) facilities and aviation-related work on Phase-1 of Stage-2 of the project," it read.

The recommendations of the SIA study for land acquisition were accepted by the expert group in its meeting held on November 20 this year, according to the official statement.

A total of 1,365 hectare of land is required for the second stage of the airport, of which some land is already in possession of the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA), a local state government agency, it noted.

"For expansion of the airport, 1,185.69 hectare private land from six villages is to be acquired under section 4 of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013," the statement read.

The official statement made no mention of number of families that will be displaced and will need rehabilitation due to the project.

Senior Uttar Pradesh government officers, YEIDA CEO Arun Vir Singh and airport's nodal officer Shailendra Bhatia, among others, attended the meeting on Friday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had recently laid the foundation stone for the Noida International Airport, which is billed to be India's largest airport upon completion. Currently work is underway for first stage of the project which is spread over 1,300 hectare.

Developer Yamuna International Airport Private Limited (YIAPL), a 100 per cent subsidiary of Swiss firm Zurich International Airport AG, is developing the airport for the state government.