Acquisition of land for enlargement of Chandigarh Airport - 29/03/2008
Mr Sukhbir Badal, MP
# 256, Sector 9-C
Chandigarh.
29 March 2008
Dear Mr Badal,
Acquisition of land for enlargement of Chandigarh Airport
Your statement that compensation of Rs.1.5 crores per acres is adequate for the farmers to be displaced is highly inaccurate and objectionable.
The Union Territory of Chandigarh has a shortage of land as extreme as any metro city in India.
The land proposed to be acquired is today not only worth much more than the figure offered, but, moreover, as the quantum of available land in the UT is minimal and shrinking every year, the value of the land being acquired for the airport will increase significantly, maybe exponentially, every year.
By acquiring today you are depriving the owners of the future appreciation of this land. There is no reason why in its current state this land would not be worth Rs.30 crores per acre in 5 years time.
Had the Chandigarh airport been enlarged by vacation of defence land, would the land currently being acquired in Mohali not have featured 5 star hotels, malls, multiplexes, offices and luxury residential complexes within a few years? Would it then be worth any less per acre than the land just auctioned in Mohali to the LIC for Rs.464.12 crores?
That is why today the Punjab government should:
1. offer a minimum of Rs. 15 crores per acre
2. grant equity in the airport project to all affected land owners aggregating to at least 15% of the equity of Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) developing the project so that owners can be compensated for the loss of future value.
Not to do so would deprive the current owners and their future generations of what is rightfully theirs.
You are risking a significant delay to this project if you think that the affected landowners will meekly accept the pittance offered.
They will not. And we will not allow you to succeed in the fraudulent deprivation of owners’ rights.
Regards,
Jassi Khangura MLA
