Mohali: The land acquisition collector here has calculated a rate of Rs 32-33 lakh per acre for the price of over 307 acres of land of village Jheorehri, which is to be acquired by the Punjab government for the International airport at Mohali.
The proposed rates were discussed during a meeting of the price fixation committee held under the chairmanship of the Mohali deputy commissioner H.I.S. Grewal, here today.
However, the rates were rejected by Kharar MLA Balbir Sidhu and member of parliament from Ropar Sukhdev Singh Libra, the two persons representing the owners during the meeting. They said the price rates calculated would mean compensation of not more than Rs 50 lakh per acre to the land owner. This amount was much lower than the prevailing markets rates of land, they said.
It was also pointed out during the meeting that the Akali-led government had been promising the farmers that they would get compensation calculated on the basis of the current market rates and not the one calculated on the basis of average of rates of the past year.
Meanwhile, the DC could not be contacted despite repeated attempts. It was, however, gathered that the DC would be forwarding the points put across by various persons attending the meeting, including the two politicians, to the government for a final decision. When contacted, Punjab chief secretary Ramesh Inder Singh said the DC is likely to submit his report of the outcome of the meeting to the financial commissioner (revenue) by tomorrow.
The meeting was called to fix the land acquisition rates for three different sites in Mohali. These included 307 acres of land in village Jeheorehi for the international airport, 1 kanal 4 marla land in village Kambala and another 4 kanal 7 marla in Sohana village.
SDM Mohali, who is also the land acquisition collector, in the meeting said the rates for Sohana and Kambala land would be finalised through negotiations with the landowners as the amount of land was small.
For Jheroreri, land prices were calculated on the basis of the average of price of land registered in the tehsil for the village one year prior to the date of notification. The largest registration for an amount of Rs 2 crore for a land deal that took place in January 2007 had also been taken into consideration while calculating the price of land in the village. “The cost of land in the village is not very high and neither are land-owners very rich. Land holdings are also small,” said a revenue official of the district.
Source: TNS