Despite a land acquisition office in Karipur, RESA development going on at snail's pace

Kondotty: The state government is having trouble procuring land for the development of the Runway End Safety Area (RESA), despite having a land acquisition office operating at the Calicut International Airport in Karipur for the past 12 years. 

The 'Land Acquisition Office' under the state Revenue Department continues to operate despite the slow progress made by the Kerala government in acquiring land for the RESA. The same office will be entrusted to acquire land by the Airport Authority of India (AAI) for RESA development. 

The office was established in January 2011 to acquire 137 acres of land for airport development and 20 acres for the rehabilitation of families. The office, comprising 24 officials, was inaugurated by the then Revenue Minister K P Rajendran. Later, in 2013, the land to be acquired was increased from 157 acres to 224 acres. In 2016, it was decided that a total of 485 acres should be acquired, including 100 acres for rehabilitation. 

However, the local protests and governmental red tapism further delayed the proposed development plan. Even a plan to acquire 15.5 acres of land for constructing a car parking in front of the airport also hit a roadblock due to local protests. Eventually, following the Covid-19 pandemic, the government decided to shut down the land acquisition office. The government was forced to abandon its plans to close the office as a result of several protests. However, salaries and other benefits for officials went not paid for months.