New collector will take Chakan airport talks forward

Pune: The new district collector is keen on taking forward talks on the proposed Chakan airport project stalled over land acquisition issues for long and says there have been no direction to the district administration over any change of “land status” .
District Collector Vikas Deshmukh, interacting with Newsline on Tuesday, said, “As of now, the Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) is supposed to acquire the land though there are protests from locals. We have no instructions on the change of site as of now.”
Deshmukh said he was not aware of any alternative sites either. “As of now, the Chakan-Rajgurunagar site remains.”
When contacted, MADC officials, too, said they had no initimation of any new development. “With the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) clearly mentioning that no loan be given towards acquisition when a proposal is mooted, the money proposed two years back as seed capital will not hold water in the present scenario,” said a senior MADC official. Now, for the acquisition process to begin, the government needs to give a good amount as seed capital.MADC had earlier mentioned that no work had been initiated for land acquisition in the villages.
25/03/11 Nisha Nambiar/Indian Express

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Categories: Airports Mar 2011, New Mar 2011