Burdwan, Jan. 11: Over 900 land holders have refused to part with their plots for the Andal aerotropolis in Burdwan.

Sources in the district land acquisition collectorate said objections from 929 villagers from eight mouzas in Andal block have been received in two lots since last Wednesday, though Burdwan district magistrate Manish Jain claimed the papers “hadn’t reached his office”.

The government issued a notification for land acquisition on December 11 last year. The notification, for the first phase of the Rs 10,000-crore project, was for the acquisition of 2,364 acres spread over the eight mouzas. In all, 3,500 acres would be required. Most of the land in the area is single-crop or barren.

But villagers allege the administration had not spoken to them before putting up the notice. Raju Roy, who filed an objection on his one-acre plot, said he wasn’t against the project but insisted the government should have spoken to him first.

“The government has fixed the price of my land after consulting political parties, not me. Why should someone else decide the price of my plot? It is unjustified. I want to talk directly to the project promoter,” said Roy, who is a Trinamul panchayat member in Andal.

Ananda Prasad Layek, who owns 3.18 acres in Bhadur mouza, said: “The project is being built by a private company which can speak to us and settle the compensation. Why is the government coming between? I will not sell at less than Rs 18 lakh per acre.”

The government has offered Rs 7.5 lakh to Rs 11.24 lakh an acre, depending on the plot’s fertility and location.

The compensation package, which offered a land-for-land scheme for the first time other than cash, vocational training and other reimbursements to 19,000 villagers, was accepted by all major political parties, except Trinamul, which did not attend any of the 19 all-party meetings.

The objections came after a demand by a farmers’ committee last Tuesday for developed plots inside the project area measuring half the area of land given up by each holder.

Trinamul, though, seems to have distanced itself from the farmers’ attempts to get higher compensation. State party president Subrata Bakshi said: “We are not part of any agitation where farmers have agreed to give up land but are agitating for higher prices.”