Survey of land for Sabarimala airport begins-OxBig News Network

The Revenue department has commenced a manual land survey for acquiring the land for the proposed Sabarimala Greenfield International airport in Erumely across the villages of Erumely South and Manimala.

Officials said the first phase of the survey will focus on marking the boundaries as per the sketch prepared during a digital survey conducted earlier. Once this boundary marking is completed, each parcel of land slated for acquisition will be clearly demarcated according to its designated survey number.

Alongside, the boundary-setting process for the runway has commenced at Charuveli in the Manimala grama panchayat. The demarcation process will subsequently extend to the Cheruvally estate and the populated areas of Erumely South village.

Within four months

After verifying the boundaries of the identified land, officials will prepare subdivision documents for each landowner involved in the project. If the weather is favourable, the survey process will be completed within four months, they added.

The survey team is led by district surveyor Sreelekha, accompanied by five surveyors on contract. The government is likely to appoint two additional surveyors to assist with the project. While the government had proposed establishing a dedicated office in Kanjirappally to facilitate the land acquisition process, a final decision on this matter is still pending.

As per the government order issued in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (1) of Section 11 of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, a total of 1,001.873 hectares (2,475.68 acres) is required to be acquired for the project in Erumely South and Manimala villages. However, the precise extent of land to be acquired for the project will only be determined, along with its survey numbers, upon completion of the physical survey process.

Primary assessment

As per the primary assessment, in addition to the 2,263-acre Cheruvally estate, an additional area of 307 acres located outside the estate will also need to be acquired for the project.

STUP Consultants Ltd, appointed by the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC), is in the process of preparing the detailed project report (DPR) for the project. Once the DPR is completed and submitted to the KSIDC, it will be forwarded to the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation for further review.