Surat: To a question on land required for the expansion of Surat International Airport, Union civil aviation minister of state Murlidhar Mohol said that the Airports Authority of India (AAI) does not currently need any land for the expansion. This came after the Congress’s Rajya Sabha MP from Gujarat, Shaktisinh Gohil, raised the issue of land reserved for the modernization and expansion of Surat International Airport. The reply to Gohil’s question was given in Parliament on the first day of the monsoon session, Monday. Gohil had asked the aviation minister for detailed information on the land required and reserved for the Surat airport expansion. He also sought the details on the reservation of land and its removal. He also asked whether the govt intends to return the land to farmers if it is unreserved. Mohol addressed only the current land requirement question, leaving the questions on land reservation and its cancellation as being the responsibility of the state govt. After the reply, Gohil issued a statement alleging that the cancellation of land reservation was a conspiracy to benefit builders. “After notification of land acquisition for the Surat airport expansion, many farmers were put in fear by the builder lobby, that they would get low prices for their land from the govt. After this, some farmers sold or agreed to sell their land to builders. Now, as AAI does not need the land, such land should be given back to farmers as a conspiracy was hatched by officials and builders to buy land for cheap under the shadow of land acquisition. A special law must be enacted to cancel all deals for land kept under reservation between the acquisition notification and acquisition cancellation,” Gohil said in his statement.
