Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) has undertaken a physical survey of the area under acquisition for commercial use and creating road connectivity to the upcoming international airport in Mohali.

However, the agency is firm on dropping the development plans if the demands for compensation for land under acquisition exceed Rs 1.5 crore per acre. This is the rate at which 306 acres in Jheourheri village were acquired last year, for construction of the airport terminal building.

The area residents had been fearing hectic activity here, following the acquisition notice for 269.52 acres in Ballomajra, Baliali, Desumajra and Fatehullapur villages. The land was being acquired for construction of a 200-feet-wide road and mixed land use along the Mohali-Kharar stretch of National Highway-21.

Following this, during his recent visit to Mohali, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had ordered officials to devise ways and means so that no development project caused any destruction.

GMADA Chief Administrator (CA) Vivek Partap Singh told The Indian Express that the survey will identify the legal structures covered under the land acquisition plans, in areas within Kharar municipal limits. “We will then review the plan to make changes in the original draft, so that the development activity leads to least-possible destruction,” disclosed Singh. He added that the review will be only for mixed land use acquisition plan, and that also if it meets the basic requirements.

The way has been paved for construction of a 300-feet-wide road from the airport to Chhat village on Zirakpur-Patiala highway, via Sector 66 in Mohali. The compensation was fixed at Rs 1.07 crore per acre, for 165 acres. The rates for almost 1,000 acres under acquisition remain undecided, due to the higher demands for compensation.

At a meeting held on Monday, the District Level Land Price Fixation Committee failed to reach a consensus on amicable compensation award for the land under acquisition following unprecedented demands for compensation. The farmers of most of the agricultural land under acquisition are demanding whopping compensation ranging between Rs 8 to 25 crore per acre, which has come as a shock to the acquisition agency.

Ballomajra and Baliali villagers are citing the recent land sale registration deeds to demand all-time high compensation rates for their agricultural land. Pleading their case, Kharar Congress MLA Balbir Sidhu, who is member of the District Level Land Price Fixation Committee, has advocated minimum Rs 8 crore per acre compensation for agricultural land, and Rs 15 lakh per marla for inhabited land falling within red line.