JEWAR: Residents of a village whose land has been identified to build the Jewar airport have refused to part with their plots unless they are paid four times the current circle rate The landowners made the demand during a meeting with officials of the Gautam Budh Nagar administration and the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA). The first meeting of a week-long procedure to take the consent of landowners for the project was held in Ramner village on Monday.Bhim Singh, a Ramner resident, whose land has been identified, said: “The district administration has not raised the circle rates in Jewar for several years. I understand the construction of the airport will bring development. I am also ready to give land for the airport. But the government should give us four times the current rate, which is reasonable,” he said.According to the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, at least 70% of the landowners have to give their consent for parting with their plots for the acquisition process to kick in. The Act says that the compensation for land acquired in urban areas will be two times the current circle rate, and four times in rural areas. The government has notified the Jewar airport neighbourhood as an urban area, which has caused dissent among the villagers.Shiv Kumar Sharma, another resident, said land in Ramner is supposed to be acquired in the first phase. “The officials had held meetings and informed us about their plan. On Monday, they had come to take our consent. We will agree to give our land only if we are given four times compensation,” he said.Officials who met the villagers on Monday included ADM (land & acquisition) Rakesh Chandra Sharma, SDM Jewar Prasoon Dwivedi and OSD, YEIDA, Shailendra Bhatia.“They have not given us their consent in writing so far. This programme will continue till July 26. We are open to receiving feedback from local people and farmers in keeping with the Land Acquisition Act,” the ADM said after the meeting.Similar meetings will be held in Ranehra, Banwariwas, Mukeempur Shivara, Parohi, Kishorpur, Dayanatpur and Rohi over the next few days. YEIDA has been appointed the nodal agency for the airport project, for which 5,000 hectares will be acquired in phases.

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