Authorities gear up to acquire land for airport
2,500 acres to be taken up for airport
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2015-05-05 07:43 GMT
Visakhapatnam: District authorities are gearing up to acquire around 2,500 acres of land for the airport at Bhogapuram including the control tower system and other equipment. The government is slated to release an initial Rs 200 crore to get the lands to construct the compound wall around the site.
It is learnt that seven villages will be vacated initially. District authorities will acquire a total of 6,000 acres of land to link the airport to coastal corridor. A senior revenue officer, not wanting to be named, said, “Initially government is going to release Rs 200 crore to acquire the lands and to undertake some works there.”
To be considered an international airport, the airport has to have 10,000 passengers a day. At present Vizag airport sees around 1,500-2,000 passengers per day. The government has decided to reduce the total area to 6,000 acres from 15,000 acres on account of the intensified protests in the area.
The Joint Action Committee and environmental experts are also opposed to the governments’ previous decision. As part of this project, 2,500 acres will be acquired or pooled for the airport initially and decision will be taken later on how much more land would have to be collected. Apart from this, the villages within five to eight kilometres radius might also need to be vacated on account of the tremendous noise generated by planes.