The Kerala Government, despite the Centre giving ‘in principle’ approval to Adani group for operating the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport, has issued orders for land acquisition for the Airport.
The government has acquired 6.8025 hectares of land for the development of the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport at the cost of the state exchequer. And once the acquisition is over, the Airport is going to be in the hands of the private players.
“In the case of the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport, the state government had already given crores of rupees from the state exchequer as compensation for the land acquired. And now 6 hectares of land is also being acquired. All the land taken for a public cause is going to land in the hands of private players and the state would be at a loss,” highly placed sources said.
Once the airport is sold, the private entrepreneur would have the final say on all the properties, including land that has been acquired using public money. www.indianf.com had earlier reported about the huge loss the state would incur with respect to the sale of the Airport and also the Central Public Sector Undertakings as part of the Centre’s decision to monetise assets and properties of CPSUs.
Kerala, which is already reeling under financial crisis, is losing yet again in the name of acquiring land. Moreover, the sources said that pity was that the land being acquired in the name of development was being transferred into the hands of some private players.
Once the land has been acquired and transferred without placing any conditions or clauses, the sources said that it could be another issue like that of Kovalam, where the state government could only be a meek onlooker when the prime property given to ITDC was sold to a private hotel group.
