Adampur airport project put on fast track ahead of polls

JALANDHAR: In an attempt to get the foundation stone for the proposed civil airport at Adampur laid by the Prime Minister ahead of the implementation of the election code, the officials of the ruling SAD-BJP government are working overtime to get the acquisition process cleared at the earliest.

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, December 8

In an attempt to get the foundation stone for the proposed civil airport at Adampur laid by the Prime Minister ahead of the implementation of the election code, the officials of the ruling SAD-BJP government are working overtime to get the acquisition process cleared at the earliest.

While the senior BJP leadership had attempted to get the airport project inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his recent visit at Ludhiana and Anandpur Sahib, the same could not be done as the office of the Prime Minister (PMO)wanted the government to first get the acquisition process cleared and payments done to farmers before the event.

After a series of quick meetings with farmers of Kandola and Dumanda villages in Adampur, Land Acquisition Officer-cum-Sub-District Magistrate RK Verma has sent a proposal seeking Rs 14.8 crore for acquiring 40 acres of land (Rs 37 lakh per acre) at the site.

The ruling alliance wants to make the Airport issue as the biggest achievement for Doaba region ahead of the elections. However, since there is still a long process involved, leaders of the SAD-BJP ruling alliance have been attempting to give it a push.

Punjab BJPChief and Union Minister of State Vijay Sampla said, “The file has reached the office of secretary, Civil Aviation. He will clear it and send to the Chief Secretary and the Chief Minister. It will then be sent to the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation for a final clearance. The process will take a few days after which we will seek time from the Prime Minister for the foundation stone”.

Vishwajeet Khanna, Secretary, Civil Aviation, Punjab, said, “The file has come to my office. The file will be routed through the Finance Department for arranging the payments through the budgetary allocations, but there has to be a clearance from the Cabinet prior to that.”

Adampur legislator Pawan Tinu believes that the beginning of work on Airport would give a huge mileage to all ruling party candidates in Doaba. “We just hope that the work gets done ahead of the poll code,” he said.

Gearing up before elections

The ruling alliance wants to present the Adampur civil airport project issue as the biggest achievement for Doaba region ahead of the elections. However, there is still a long process involved and the SAD-BJP leaders have been trying to give it a push
Land Acquisition Officer-cum-SDM RK Verma has sent a proposal seeking Rs 14.8 crore for acquiring 40 acres of land (Rs 37 lakh per acre) at the site.
Minister of State Vijay Sampla said the file had reached the office of secretary, Civil Aviation, and the process would take a few days after which the state govt would seek time from the Prime Minister for laying the foundation stone.