Farmers, whose land
was acquired at a meagre Rs. 4 per square yard in South West Delhi way back in
1955 in the name of undertaking planned development, have now seized upon the opportunity
raised by the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India — on the
loss caused to the exchequer by leasing away of some of this very land by
Indira Gandhi International Airport concessionaire Delhi International Airports
Limited to commercial enterprises — to demand higher compensation.
For the farmers of
Mahipalpur, Nangal Dewat and Rangpuri villages near the airport, many of who
have over the last nearly 57 years been fighting legal battles for enhanced
compensation, the report was a godsend.
“I was pursuing the
land acquisition case and the airport privatisation issue for getting higher
compensation for the farmers through the Supreme Court. But when this CAG
report came out, I decided to share the documents which had been procured by me
from the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Delhi government,” said Colonel
(retd.) Devender Sehrawat, who had filed applications under the Right to
Information Act on these issues.
Col. Sehrawat, who is
also secretary of the Delhi Gramin Samaj and co-convener of the Kissan
Mahasangh, a federation of farmers' organisations, said the CAG draft report
had also noted that the government exchequer had incurred a loss of Rs.24,000
crore due to manipulation in the original agreement and undue benefit worth
Rs.1,63,557 were granted to the Delhi International Airports Limited through
transfer of land.
Thus, he said, as per
the CAG, the loss was around Rs. 34 crore per acre — as 4799 acres of land was
transferred to the concessionaire — and this worked out to a rate of nearly
Rs.70,000 per square yard. However, Col. Sehrawat said the farmers had only
been paid a fraction of this for their land.
With 13 hotel projects
envisioned on the airport land, the Kissan Mahasangh is now viewing the land
transfer deal as a bonanza for the concessionaire and has urged the Civil Aviation
Ministry to adequately compensate the farmers for their land and initiate
resettlement and rehabilitation measures.
Col. Sehrawat, who had
gathered the information to seek higher compensation for the farmers through
the Supreme Court, decided to come out with the information in hand following
the CAG report.
As per the information
accessed by him — and copies of which are withThe Hindu— under the
Operation, Management Development Agreement (OMDA) between DIAL and the
Airports Authority of India, the concessionaire was allotted 4,799 acres on
Rs.100 annual lease rent for 60 years.
Even for commercial
use, 190 acres were allowed to DIAL at a price of Rs.31 lakh while in the
original contract, out of the total of 4,799 acres, only 240 acres or 5 per cent
was earmarked for commercial use.
The transfer of land
to the airport concessionaire took place after the matter of land use was
considered by the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) in June 2005.
The EGoM had then
directed the Civil Aviation Ministry to take the opinion of the
Attorney-General on “use of airport land and limit on commercial use of land at
airport complex by the JVC [joint venture company]” and legality of permitting
the proposed concessionaire to develop the airport for commercial uses unrelated
to the airport under the provisions of the Airports Authority of India Act,
1994.
Giving his opinion on
the issue on June 17, 2005, the then Attorney-General Milon K. Banerji, had
said: “It would not be lawfully permissible for the AAI to grant a lease to any
person in respect of any airport property for the purposes of commercial
activities listed in Schedule 19 of the draft OMDA like building of golf
courses, business parks, hi-tech parks, commercial offices, leisure facilities,
commercial arcades, sports complexes, shopping complexes and convention centres
etc. unconnected with the scope of airport development and management,
including provision of passenger facilities and amenities.”
He had further noted
that “if it was considered necessary to permit lease of land to the
concessionaire for undertaking commercial activities that go beyond the
provision of passenger facilities at the airport, then it must be done only
after an amendment was made to the AAI Act, 1994.”
The EGoM had
accordingly decided in its meeting held on June 22, 2005, that all commercial
activities unrelated to the airport included in Schedule 19 of the draft OMDA
be omitted from the final bid document. Thereafter two major Indian real estate
firms — DLF Limited and Hiranandani Properties — who had initially shown
considerable interest in the proposed airport modernisation projects withdrew
from the bidding process.
But the decision on
the transfer of land for commercial activities was later reversed by the Civil
Aviation Ministry to the advantage of the concessionaire.
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