Rajkot: The proposed greenfield airport for the temple town of Dwarka, which witnesses footfalls in lakhs, is likely to be delayed further, with the state govt asking the Devbhumi Dwarka district administration to explore an alternative site following opposition by farmers over the acquisition of fertile agricultural land.Earlier, the administration had identified around 350 acres near Vasai village, about 12 km from Dwarka, for the airport. The site was selected after the aviation ministry rejected three other proposed land parcels as unsuitable.Around 45% of the identified land is government-owned, while the remaining portion was to be acquired from farmers and private landowners. However, when the administration initiated the acquisition process, farmers from four villages around Vasai opposed the move and submitted a memorandum to the authorities.The farmers argued that the land proposed for the airport is highly fertile and that its acquisition would deprive them of their primary source of livelihood. They also claimed that farmers and cattle breeders could be forced to migrate if the agricultural land was acquired. The farmers demanded that the airport instead be developed on non-fertile land.According to sources, the district administration had been trying to persuade the farmers to cooperate with the acquisition despite their continued opposition. However, the govt’s approach appears to have changed following the recent protests by farmers in Morbi over compensation and the installation of high-tension electricity transmission infrastructure.“Looking at the current situation, we have been instructed by the govt to search for another land parcel for the airport. If another suitable land is not found, the govt will again focus on convincing these farmers to allow acquisition of their land,” said a senior official close to the development.Officials said identifying another parcel of around 350 acres would be a challenging task. Apart from the availability of a large contiguous land parcel, the site has to meet several technical and aviation requirements and should also be sufficiently close to Dwarkadhish temple.The airport project was conceived by the govt and the civil aviation ministry in view of the growing tourist and pilgrim footfall in Dwarka.
