Purandar Airport: District Admin To Offer Financial Counselling To Villagers On Managing Compensation

Purandar villagers who lost their land to the upcoming international airport will be receiving multi-crore disbursement, so as to avoid any financial mismanagement and to check the impetuous spending, the Pune district administration will be setting up financial help desks and counselling centres. 

Reportedly, the administration is connecting with the bank personnel to support the initiative. Also, to uplift fiscal responsibility, talks are ongoing to transfer the amounts directly to the women’s accounts in a household. 

“In most cases, after sudden financial windfalls, villagers misspend compensation on gambling or luxury vehicles, so it's necessary to avoid this,” district collector Jitendra Dudi told TOI. 

Land surveys will require around four weeks, following which the compensation for the land acquisition will probably start in November. “To promote judicious financial planning during the Purandar airport land acquisition, counselling centres will be established to advise on smart investment choices so as to secure their long-term future,” Dudi said.

The Pune administration is also planning to provide skill development training that would help in adapting to an alternate livelihood, especially while shifting from agriculture. 

Land Survey Begins

With utmost support from the locals, 50 hectares of the land were measured and surveyed on the very first day in villages including Udaichiwadi, Ekhatpur, and Munjawadi. 

“We've secured 94 per cent consent for land acquisition, which is encouraging and was possible after nearly 100 hours of discussions and meetings with locals. Currently, using highly precise rover machines, five teams are continuing the land survey,” explained Dudi.

“We need 1,285 hectares for the Purandar airport, and so far, 600 hectares of land survey have been completed,” he added. 

Compensation

Reportedly, landowners would receive four times the current market value of their land. In addition to this, 10 per cent developed land in the upcoming Aerocity will be offered to those who give consent. 

“The administration will provide adjacent plots to allow land pooling and facilitate joint ventures under MIDC rules for farmers owning less than 2.5 acres,” Dudi said. 

Similar financial guidance mechanisms were used during the Malin landslide disbursement and may be implemented for the upcoming Pune ring road projects, the officials said.