Villagers stage stir over rehab
RANCHI: A day after Airport Authority of India (AAI) officials faced resistance when they visited Hethu village on Wednesday for a survey of the land acquired for the Birsa Munda airport expansion project, the locals organised a sit-in protest for proper compensation and rehabilitation of project-affected people, officials close to the developments said on Thursday.
Ritesh Kumar Singh, a project-affected person, said that former Union minister Subodh Kant Sahay and former deputy mayor of Ranchi Municipal Corporation Ajay Nath Shahdeo also participated and expressed their solidarity with the villagers “in their fight for justice”.
“After the sit-in protest, a delegation met Birsa Munda Airport director RR Maurya and shared their grievances. Maurya responded positively,” Singh said.
When contacted for comment, airport director Maurya said, “The protesters submitted a memorandum addressed to the Ranchi deputy commissioner and requested me to forward the same. I accepted the memorandum. The demands are old (compensation and rehabilitation). AAI has no controversy with villagers on the matter. The district administration is involved in the matter. We are working in a non-controversial area, and I clarified the same.”
On Wednesday, villagers resisted AAI’s move to survey the land for boundary wall construction for the airport expansion project.
“AAI officials had gone with the idea that villagers were properly compensated for their land acquired in 2008, but upon reaching there, they came to know that the matter is still unresolved and pending before the high court. After they learned about the fact, they returned and planned to work in the non-controversial area,” an AAI official said, citing the reason for the same.
Another AAI official said, “Under the expansion project, the length of the runway will have to be increased to 3,655 meters from the existing 2,748 meters, and the runway strip will be widened to 60 meters from the existing 45 meters. The entire exercise is being done for the same.”