Mihan Nagpur Riddle News - New twist in the Mihan riddle

The Mihan tangle took a new turn after the last round of talks between oustees from Jaitala-Bhamti villages, led by Congress corporator Praful Guddade-Patil, and the Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC), were scuttled by the latter on Monday. The oustees declined to give away their land, no matter what price was offered to them.

Joint managing director of MADC Pravin Darade had to eat a humble pie as a group of more than 1,000 villagers vehemently spewed anger against the land acquisition move. A few days ago, Darade had announced that the last round of talks would be held on Monday and if the oustees fail to accept the Rs 1.25 crore a hectare offered to them, their lands would be forcibly taken over. Under such a situation much lower notified rates will be paid. He had said no more negotiations would be held after Monday.

The MADC and district administration, however, claimed that those led by Guddade-Patil were not the actual land-holders of the two villages, which according to them are not more than 187.

Given the oustees reluctance more rounds of talks will be held now, said district collector Saurabh Rao who is heading the acquisition process. This is the last patch of 146 hectares of land held by 187 persons from Jaitala and Bhamti villages. A miniscule portion of the entire project spread in 4,000 hectares, it is crucial though to have this tract acquired as the second runway without which the very Mihan project cannot take off will come up here.

Darade may have been hoping to close case by Monday but the whole affair got further complicated. Guddade-Patil turned up with around 1,000 persons whom he claimed to be owners of small plots in the area under acquisition. This increased the number of claimants which was so far only 187 as per the government records.

Guddade-Patil alleged that the government was wrongfully acquiring the land challenging very basis of the take-over. "The second runway for which the land is being acquired is not needed at all. The entire project is a real estate racket and we will not vacate our land no matter what price is offered by the MADC," he said, as he was cheered by his supporters.

He told journalists that the oustees were also planning to move the court against MADC acquiring land in Sumthana Isasani, Shivangaon and Chinchbhuvan villages evoking the urgency clause in 2002. "It has been almost a decade since the land was acquired under the clause but nothing has come up so far which only shows that there was no urgency to acquire the land," he said. A similar litigation against the alleged wrongful earmarking of a part of Jaitala land for acquisition is already pending in the court, Guddade-Patil added.

Later, while briefing newspersons the district collector Saurabh Rao, said considering the sensitivity of the issue, negotiations will be carried out further. On Guddade-Patil's claim of around 1,000 plot-owners also being there, Rao said the official records show only 187 landholders and compensation will be paid to only those persons in whose name the property is registered.

Rao added that the price offered by MADC almost double than the current market rates. The rates according to the latest ready reckoner range from Rs 52 lakh to 1.10 crore.

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Shivangaon PAPs' leader softens stand

Leader of project affected persons (PAPs) in Shivangaon Baba Dawre, who has been known for his strong opposition to the acquisition unless a higher compensation was paid, now softened his stance towards MADC.

Dawre now says that since MADC has agreed to oustees' demand, of offering developed land proportionate to 12.5% of their holdings acquired, the dispute ends there. However, now he is not talking of an enhanced compensation which he was harping so far.

The oustees will have to pay for taking possession of the developed land. The rate will depend on the compensation offered to them. On an average it comes to around Rs 66-70 per square feet, Darade said.

"Our all demands have been met. We had been always pressing for 12.5% of land developed land and not increased cash compensation. Cases are pending in the courts for a hike in the compensation amount and we shall wait till the verdict. However, if the MADC wants an out of the court settlement we will not accept a rate less than what is offered to Jaitala-Bhamti residents," Dawre told TOI.

However, this man who led the Shivangaon villagers for the last four years was often heard demanding Rs 1.5 crore per acre for the farmlands here.

Buying back the developed plot is expected to mainly benefit those with larger holdings, who may ultimately get with a sizeable area under the 12.5% formula. The main objective of providing developed land is that the oustees can sell it at a decent rate.

Mihan News Today - Mihan oustees split over acquisition

The recent compensation package announced for the Mihan project affected persons (PAPs) has left them divided. One group of oustees has accepted the dole with others opposing it. Schisms surfaced on Thursday when the district administration officials reached Shivangaon to conduct measurements before going ahead with land acquisition.

A group of residents backed by Praful Gudadhe Patil, leader of PAPs in neighbouring Jaitala-Bhamti villages reached Shivangaon to stall the process leading to a tiff. On the other side were oustees led by Baba Dawre who were so far agitating against land acquisition. His brother Bapu Dawre has now joined the Patil camp along with a section of other Shivangaon residents. As a clash between groups appeared imminent, the police whisked away the protestors including Bapu Dawre charging them with obstructing government work. The measurement continued peacefully after that.Each village had a different leader. Khapri was led by BJP MLA Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Jaitala-Bhamti by Patil and BJP leader Vijay Raut, and Shivangaon being under Dawre. However, equations have entirely changed since last one month. Dawre has now softened his stance saying that all their demands have been met including offer of 12.5% developed land against each familyas holdings acquired. Until a week ago, both Patil and Raut together opposed the acquisition itself. Now Raut has distanced himself from Patil saying a majority of the residents had agreed to the package and hence there was no need for the agitation to continue. Bawankule has been lying low.

asAlmost 80% of villagers in Jaitala-Bhamti have agreed to the compensation, so the agitation ends now,a? Raut told TOI. Patil countered this claim saying he had the support of a majority of residents who were still against the acquisition and a petition has already been filed opposing the process. The petition contends that even as the land was acquired under by evoking urgency clause, nothing has come up on the land acquired so far and that showed there was no pressing need.

Patil said even a section of Shivangaon residents were against measurement which he alleged was carried out in violations of rules as the mandatory seven-day notice was not served. Even those supporting it are being misled, he added. Dawre accused Patil of political manoeuvring to garner support for impending municipal elections.

Land in the three villages, Jaitala, Bhamti and Shivangaon has been earmarked for building the second runway for Mihan. So far the runway on which the project hinges has remained in doldrums due to the ousteesa opposition. With Shivangaon now agreeing, Jaitala-Bhamti area which will form the tip of the runway remains.

Mihan 2011- PM, President photos point the way to airport loos

A Maharashtra legislator has registered a complaint against the use of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Pratibha Patil's pictures to indicate men and women's washrooms near the VIP waiting lounge of Nagpur's Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport.

"Both portraits are displayed near the washrooms, which is against discipline and protocol. Symbolically, it shows that Patil's portrait gives direction towards the women's washroom while Manmohan Singh's directs one to the gents' loo," said Gadchiroli MLA Namdeo Usendi, who lodged the complaint on Monday evening. The Mihan India Limited (MIL) that runs the airport hastily relocated the portraits and displayed them at a wall some distance from the washrooms on Tuesday.

Usendi said he was not informed about it but airport authorities said they would write to him about the removal of the photos. Usendi registered the complaint along with Congress leader and state women's economic development corporation chairperson Prabhavati Oza. They demanded immediate removal of the photos until the airport authorities found a suitable place as per government protocol to display them

Mihan Nagpur News -WCL wants coal belt around Nagpur

The district's natural wealth is gradually proving a bane for the city and its nearby areas. A large number of thermal power plants are coming up around the city because as per the government this area is close to mines and has lot of water. If this was not enough, Western Coalfields Limited (WCL) wants to dig up the areas around the city, some of which will soon become suburbs of Nagpur.

WCL has written to Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT), which is the planning authority for the Nagpur metro region, to reserve 60,000 hectare for the company as this land is likely to have coal reserves. 129 villages and localities are coming under this area.

Some of these villages - Godhni, Hingna, Wanadongri - have become heavily urbanized while rapid urbanization is taking place in many areas like Gondkhairi, Dahegaon, Jamtha, etc. WCL's coal belt starts from Godhni, which is on the fringes of the city, and passes through Gorewada reserved forest, Gondkhairi, Hingna MIDC, Hingna town, Wanadongri, south-western boundary of Mihan, Jamtha upto Nagpur-Umred narrow gauge railway line.

NIT chairman Pravin Darade told the media on Wednesday said that he would take up the issue at the highest level including ministry of coal. "We can not allow WCL to mine this area. Development of the metro region will become impossible. Moreover, the city's future will be quite bleak," he pointed out.

MK Singh, general manager (PR) of WCL, defended his company's demand. "We have only asked NIT to take no objection certificate (NOC) from us before starting development of any region. If you develop any area which has coal, then it will create major issues 10 to 15 years down the line."

Singh said that WCL did not have much choice as government did not permit coal mining under forests. Replying to a query he said that as per law, ministry of coal could compulsorily acquire an area having coal reserves.

The coal company has already asked NIT to help it in acquiring 535 hectares in Kamptee, Saoner and Umred areas. It has stated in a letter that it needed to acquire these areas urgently as the coal was to be supplied to the power sector, which was in dire need of coal.

BOX 1

NIT will begin the survey of buildings in Besa-Beltarodi area after Diwali. Chairman Pravin Darade said that NIT had received the required data from district collectorate. "We will deploy all engineers for the survey. It will be completed in 15 days."

Darade said that the engineers would first check whether the construction had permission from NIT, district collectorate or gram panchayat. Those not having any permission will be deemed illegal. "We will then check whether the building has been constructed as development control rules (DCR) of Nagpur. If the violations can be compounded, we will do it else action will be taken regarding the illegal portion of the construction."

The chairman appealed to media organizations to flash real estate advertisements making false claims and help prevent duping of customers. "We will take action against the realtors, who have made false claims. We have asked CREDAI to hang boards in sub registrar offices mentioning the documents that should be checked before buying a property.

BOX 2

NIT will charge Rs 5,000 deposit from persons booking its grounds for marriage or other functions. "We will deduct the expenses of cleaning the ground from the deposit amount and then refund it," said superintending engineer Sunil Gujjelwar.

Nagpur cargo hub project cleared

By A Business Correspondent

The Maharashtra government has cleared the Rs 2,500-crore aviation cargo hub proposed to be developed in the Nagpur aerodrome area in the state. The project envisages developing an international passenger and cargo hub complex along with railway and road freight centres.

A separate company, Maharashtra Airport Development Company, would be constituted to implement the project. MADC would have equity participation from the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation, Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation, City & Industrial Development Corporation and other financial institutions. MSRDC would be the nodal agency for the project, which would be implemented on BOT basis.

The project, estimated to cost Rs 5,000 crore, would be taken up in phases. Of the total project cost, around Rs 2,500 crore would be raised through private participation, while Rs 200 crore would be brought in by the state government for acquiring 2,556 hectares of land. An investment of Rs 1,125 crore is envisaged by 2006 in the first phase of the project.

Deccan Cargo to set up hub at Nagpur

Nagpur, July 10 (IANS) In a major step towards operationalisation of the multi-modal international hub airport at Nagpur (MIHAN), the Maharashtra Airport Development Co (MADC) Thursday signed a pact with Deccan Cargo for running a cargo hub here.

Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, who is the ex-officio chairman of MADC, signed the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Captain Gopinath of Deccan Cargo in the presence of Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel and union Minister of State for New and Renewable Energy Vilas Muttemwar among other dignitaries.

Reiterating that Nagpur was his dream city and MIHAN his dream project, Deshmukh said it was the happiest day for him as chairman of the project.

Describing the signing of MoU as creation of runway for the take off of MIHAN, better known as Cargo Hub Project, Patel hoped it would develop into one of the finest facilities of the kind in the world.

'Nagpur is decidedly the natural corridor for freight logistics in India and a highly favourable nodal point on the world cargo movement map,' he said, adding that time will vindicate the choice of the city for the project in preference to Hyderabad.

The civil aviation minister also disclosed that Indian Airlines too will set up a cargo hub in the city.

Deccan Cargo, set up by the erstwhile Air Deccan management, plans to begin cargo transport operations through 10 aircraft from here early next year, Gopinath said in his presentation before the media and senior executives of the two companies after signing the agreement.

Describing the MoU as a historic step for the Indian industry, Gopinath said with the acquisition of 10 aircraft, his company's cargo handling capacity will be twice as much as that of the Indian Airlines, and that it will reach out to over 66 cities in India where Air Deccan had already reached.

'The air cargo connectivity in the country is limited to only seven cities as of now, leaving out cargo in the smaller cities that accounts for 85 percent of the GDP', he said adding that increase in the velocity of business cargo will put India in league of five top global economies in the next ten years.

'Nagpur is set to change the logistics backbone of India,' the Deccan Cargo CEO said, expressing happiness about his studied choice of the centrally located city as the hub for the company's cargo handling operations.

The company proposes to make an initial investment of Rs.14 billion for setting up the hub on 50 acres the MADC has offered it for parking and maintenance of aircraft and handling the cargo redistribution.

'The hub will facilitate fast air cargo movement and provide the apples in Himachal Pradesh and Kashmir and oranges in Nagpur a timely access to the world market,' Gopinath concluded.

Nagpur airport all set to take off as cargo hub

With a view to developing the Nagpur airport into a cargo and passenger hub, the civil aviation ministry has proposed a five-year exemption on all airport and navigation charges. This is for airlines undertaking cargo operations to and from the Nagpur airport. The exemption extends to both domestic and international sectors.

According to civil aviation minister Praful Patel, work on the new cargo terminal will start in a few months and the objections raised by defence authorities on land-related issues have been sorted out.

Earlier, at an IATA summit, he said the government was looking at opening up the aviation sector more and was already deliberating allowing 74% FDI in air cargo, non-scheduled operation and sea planes, among others.

Air cargo has not even scratched the surface of cargo industry in India. According to the Airbus market outlook for the next 20 years, the number of dedicated freights in India will go up from the current dismal figure of eight to around 165 aircraft by 2025. Public sector carriers, Indian Airlines and Air India, have already firmed up their plans to convert some of their ageing fleet into dedicated cargo freighters and use Nagpur as the centre of their cargo operations.

Buoyed by the opening up of the retail sector, private sector low fare carriers-Air Deccan, Go Air, SpiceJet and Indigo, also plan to launch cargo operations soon. A joint venture company of the Maharashtra Airport Development Company Ltd (MADC) and Airports Authority of India (AAI) will develop the cargo hub.