Plot quagmire: Runway of the Gaya airport

The runway extension project of Gaya international airport continues to be stuck in the doldrums.

The bone of contention — the rate of plots in Bishunganj village needed for the extension — has pushed back the process of acquisition of land for the purpose and is poised to put extra burden on the state exchequer.

The land acquisition department, at the time of notification issued for land acquisition at Bishunganj village under Dhamsir panchayat of Gaya district in 2009-10, had fixed the compensation rate at Rs 5,200 per decimal. Four years on, the villagers are now demanding compensation according to the current rate of Rs 2.67 lakh per decimal. A site selection committee, headed by the district magistrate, has agreed in principle to provide Rs 33,000 per decimal as compensation.

District land acquisition officer Prabhat Kumar Jha said: “The stalemate in the acquisition of plots at Bishunganj continues because the land acquisition department is considering to provide compensation according to the residential rate of land at the time of notification made in the 2009-10 financial year, while the villagers are demanding compensation according to the rate in the current financial year (2013-14).”

The huge disparity in the rate fixed at the time of notification, the site selection committee’s acceptance and the latest demand by villagers is the prime reason behind delay in acquisition of plots at Bishunganj.

A sum of Rs 9.54 crore sanctioned in the first week of July 2011 has also been gathering dust for around two years. The amount was initially deposited in the bank account of the land acquisition department for almost a year. When the villagers did not agree to hand over their plots, the amount was deposited in the Gaya treasury on July 16, 2012, following the order of state land acquisition department director Hukum Singh Meena.

In 2009-10, the site selection committee headed by the district magistrate, had recommended Rs 5,200 for each decimal at Bishnuganj, slotting them as agriculture land.

The site selection committee includes an additional district magistrate-rank officer, sub-divisional officer, deputy collector for land reforms, circle officer and the district land registration sub-registrar.

Earlier, in Hario village, the plots were considered as residential. Hario falls on Gaya-Dobhi road, around 4km east of Bishunganj. For each decimal, a compensation of Rs 46,600 was given to Hario villagers. The site selection committee has agreed in principle to provide compensation to Bishunganj villagers under the residential land plot category as followed for Hario.

The district land acquisition department has already served notice on 297 villagers for acquisition of 51.04 acres of private land of the total of 70.24 acres required in Bishunganj. The government owns the remaining plots in the village.

“To turn the runway from 7,500ft to 9,000ft, around 100.04 acres are required. The department has already acquired 29.8 acres,” said land acquisition officer Jha.