Aurangabad: The state government has cleared a proposal for acquiring land admeasuring 182 acre for the proposed expansion of Aurangabad airport but the district administration has a major task ahead while actually taking possession the identified land.The administration will have to remove over 1,200 homes and other properties, besides taking control of over 80 acre of agricultural land for making way for the expansion. Since the land in question is within the city limits and is urbanised in several parts, the authorities are likely to face stiff opposition from people whose land has to be acquired.A senior official from the district administration said more than 85% of land to be acquired has private ownership."The airport expansion needs acquisition of over 155 acre private land, along with portion of land owned by the local civic body and CIDCO. The land acquisition involves both agricultural and non-agricultural land. Even if the best financial deals are offered to the owners while doling out compensation, we cannot rule out possibility of stiff opposition," the official said.In June, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had held a special review meeting on expansion of Aurangabad airport that involves widening of existing runaway to make it at par with international standards. Earlier, during a state cabinet meeting in October last year, Fadnavis had announced funds worth Rs 250 crore for development of the airports at Aurangabad and Nanded. However, voices of dissent started coming with a section of stakeholders opposing the development as things started progressing.State assembly speaker Haribhau Bagde, who was part of the aforesaid meeting held in June, had admitted on record that land-acquisition in urbanised areas could prove a major hurdle in the airport expansion. Bagde, who represents Phulambri assembly constituency, had also suggested that the authorities could explore the option of carrying out proposed expansion work in part or full, using the available land with the airport.As the Shirdi airport has already become operational, Aurangabad airport in its current format is feared to lose traffic in the short run unless expanded. Also, captains of local industries have been strongly advocating for airport expansion as one of the prerequisites for the upcoming Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor project.The domestic passenger traffic at Aurangabad airport had shown significant drop in 2015-16 compared to the previous year, while the cargo movement has increased.Aurangabad airport is the only airport which has witnessed drop in terms of domestic passenger movement among other major airports in the state, the Economic Survey of Maharashtra for 2016-17 had revealed.

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