Pathanamthitta: In a severe jolt to the Aranmula airport project, the revenue authorities have declared 232 acres on the project site as excess land.
The decision to declare total 340 acres of land as excess, which included the airport site, was taken at a meeting of the Kozhenchery Taluk Land Board chaired by deputy collector Abdul Samad, on April 10.
The land, comprising mostly paddy fields, was under the ownership of Abraham Kalamannil of the Mount Zion Group, who later sold it to the airport’s proprietors, the KGS Group. Of the 340 acres, the rest are in the nearby Kidangannur, Mezhuveli and Mallappuzhassery areas.
Kozhenchery Tahasildar Daniel Mathew said the acquisition of the excess land would begin this week itself. The entire 340 acres are now set to come under the land bank of the government.
05/05/13 P T Mohanan Pillai/Indian Express
