Dehradun, 11 Nov: Residents of Athoorwala village near Jolly Grant Airport in Dehradun have strongly opposed the proposed expansion of the Jolly Grant Airport. It may be recalled that a delegation of Athoorwala residents led by Doiwala MLA Brij Bhushan Gairola had called on Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on 4 December to share their concern over the proposed expansion of the airport. It may be recalled that Uttarakhand Government has taken a decision to expand and upgrade the Dehradun Airport at Jolly Grant to an International airport. A high level meeting chaired by CM Dhami was also held today at the CM’s residence where the CM had issued instructions to the officers to speed up the upgradation process for the Jolly Grant Airport in Dehradun and the Pant Nagar Airport in Kumaon. This was preceded by a meeting held some days ago under chairmanship of Chief Secretary Dr SS Sandhu who had made it clear that irrespective of the help from the Centre, the state government is determined to upgrade the Dehradun Airport to an international level.
It may be pertinent to point out here that most of the Athoorwala residents who fear that their lands will be acquired for the expansion of the airport are the families which have been rehabilitated here from old Tehri and surrounding areas. These families had been relocated here after being ousted from Tehri district due to construction of Tehri Dam. As a matter of convention, those rehabilitated once and those who are allotted alternative land after acquisition of their originally owned lands are generally spared a second relocation. A large number of families in Athoorwala village are Tehri oustees whose lands in old Tehri and surrounding areas have already been acquired once and they have been allotted land here in Athoorwala around two decades ago. Since then, most of the Athoorwala residents have managed to stabilise their lives and settle down well establishing their shops and restaurants around the Dehradun Airport.The villagers apprehend that due to expansion of the airport, they will again lose not only their lands but also their livelihood and are therefore strongly opposing the proposal of expansion of the airport. The residents of Athoorwala Bhaniyawala displaced by Tehri Dam are now accusing the government of breaking its promise made earlier that they will not be ousted again. They also point out that on 4 December, the CM had himself given assurance to the delegation that their land will not be acquired for the expansion of the airport. The villagers have threatened a huge and continuous agitation if the government tries to acquire their land in any way. They further state that in case the government wishes to expand the airport, it should carry out expansion on its own land rather than acquiring people’s land for the same. They also remind that the Tehri Dam oustees can’t bear the brunt of displacement for the third consecutive time. If the government forcefully imposes its policy, it will be strongly opposed from the streets to the government and not even 1 inch of land will be given to make Dehradun airport an international airport.
It may also be recalled that the Tehri Dam oustees, whose land was acquired for Tehri Dam in the eighties when Uttarakhand was part of undivided UP, were again uprooted in 2003 for the expansion of the airport and now after 20 years, due to the new decree of the government, they again fear uprooting. Those who have opposed the government’s expansion plan include journalist Gajendra Rawat, Baldev Singh, Kamal Singh Rana, Betal Singh, Rakesh Singh, Vikram Singh Bhandari, Naththi Singh Rawat, Ravindra Negi, Yashwant Negi, Shankar Singh Panwa, Sumer Singh Negi, Kirti Singh Negi Kartar Singh, Mahavir Singh, Devi Singh Rawat, Govind Singh Rawat, Shyam Singh Rawat, Vinod Singh and Suresh Singh, all from Athoorwala village.
