BAPL offers compensation to landlosers in airport city project

KOLKATA: Bengal Aerotropolis Projects Ltd (BAPL), which is setting up a Rs 10,000 crore airport city project in Durgapur, has earmarked a 105-acre plot under its land-for-land compensation formula for landlosers in the vicinity. The company is hopeful of handing over the land which will be developed by them by calender 2011.

Mr Kaushik Banerjee, vice-president of BAPL said: "The project area is spread over some 2,180 acres. As part of our compensation package, we will offer 1 cottah for every bigha of land that will be given up for our project. As of now, we have recieved some 325 acres from 666 people. Land will be offered." Mr Banerjee was talking to newsmen on the sidelines of the company���s MoU signing ceremony with the state technical education and training department for imparting training to some 5,000 project-affected people.

Apart from the land compensation, the company in consultation with the state government and other stakeholders has evolved an annuity or land for land scheme. An annuity is an investment that one makes, either in a single lumpsum or through instalments paid over a certain number of years, in return for which he receives back a specific sum every year, every half-year or every month, either for life or for a fixed number of years.

For those whose land holdings are less than 33 decimals (33 decimals is equal to one-third of an acre), annuity will be paid over five years. The minimum annuity payable will be Rs 25,000 with an additional Rs 2,000 for each additional decimal. The company will start giving land to a landloser whose holding is larger than or equal to 33 decimals but less than 49.5 decimals. For this category of landlosers, the company will offer 1 cottah of developed land duly registered. The size of developed land will increase according to the landholding of the landloser.
Maximum land that will be offered to landlosers is 6 cottahs. Six cottahs will be given to those whose total land holding will be larger than or equal to 182.5 decimals.

Elaborating on the company���s initiative on imparting technical training, Mr Subrata Paul, chief executive officer of BAPL, said ITI Durgapur will provide vocational training to project-affected people to make them employable. "We do not commit to absorb these people. But we will be able to create a pool of technically skilled people so that those who come to participate in the aerotropolis project can immediately access this pool," he added.