by reciprocal arrangement with Star of Mysore

Mysore, Feb 13: Apparently angered over the delay in the implementation of Mandakalli Airport development project, Lok Sabha member C.H. Vijayashankar is holding a meeting of top officials, connected with the project, to find out the reasons for the delay today.

The meeting began around 12.15 pm at the office of the Deputy Commissioner. The meeting is being attended by Chamarajanagar Lok Sabha member M. Shivanna, Deputy Commissioner S. Selvakumar, Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) Manager Kasturi, Assistant Commissioner Chikkathammaiah and DC's HQA Palaiah.

During the deliberations Vijayashankar came to know that the district administration has failed to handover the acquired land to the Airport Authority of India (AAI) as 20 acres of land was under litigation.

Vijayashankar asked the Deputy Commissioner to immediately handover the undisputed land of 154.22 acres.

The Deputy Commissioner Selvakumar agreed to implement the MP's instruction without delay.

In a curious twist, about 15 land losers from Mandakalli, who were present in the meeting, alleged that the KIADB had asked them to pay a tax of Rs. 10,000 per Rs. one lakh paid as compensation.

"We had not come to you begging to acquire our lands. You people came and acquired the land. Why should we pay the tax ?" they asked.

Vijayashankar assured them that he would talk to the Deputy Chief Minister, who is also the Finance Minister, to waive the tax.

He observed that the land under litigation would not come in the way of development of the airport. The litigation could be solved through negotiations later.

Vijayashankar said that the AAI will start work from Apr. 18 if the acquired land is handed over to them immediately.

The Karnataka Government and AAI had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the project on 6.10.2005.