Coimbatore Airport currently has a 9,500-feet runway. If the international and cargo planes are to arrive and depart, a runway that is longer than this is required. So it was decided many years ago to expand the Coimbatore Airport’s runway to a length of 12,500 feet.

For this, 627 acres of land was to be acquired in the area where the airport is currently located. Of this, 134 acres belong to the Department of Defense. There are 28 acres of outlying land. These lands were immediately acquired. The remaining lands are houses and agricultural lands. The government is taking steps to acquire them as well.

In this context, the owners of the lands to be acquired for the expansion of the airport are urging that they be paid their compensation at the earliest.

The owners of the lands to be acquired in Irugur area came to the Collector’s office yesterday. They met with the Airport Expansion Land Acquisition Revenue Officer.

Later, they told reporters:

Coimbatore Airport expansion work has been going on for more than 10 years now. The land to be acquired for this purpose has been priced for the last three years. It was decided, Rs. 1,500 per square foot for houses and Rs. 900 per square foot for agricultural lands. Most landlords have provided a letter of consent to provide the land. But many years have passed and the government has not provided us with proper compensation. We are in a position where we cannot sell those lands. We need to get the compensation at the earliest.