Gondia: Construction and land acquisition work of the extension of Birsi airport near here has been stalled reportedly on the directives of state rehabilitation minister Patangrao Kadam to Airports Authority of India (AAI).
Congress MLA Gopaldas Agrawal on Tuesday told TOI the AAI had been doing extension work of the airport since 2005-2006. He claimed this was going on the false assurance of making payment of compensation for the land acquired and was, at times, done forcibly. Agrawal said neither the compensation was paid nor rehabilitation package was announced for farmers. The affected farmers were struggling to get their demands met with since long.
Agrawal, who was present at a special meeting convened by Kadam to sort out the issue, said the minister assured to stop construction and land acquisition. Kadam telephonically directed AAI authorities to stop work forthwith, Agrawal said.
20/02/13 Times of India
