The Pune district administration will compulsorily acquire the remaining 40 hectares required for the proposed Purandar international airport after landowners in Pargaon refused to consent to the acquisition despite two deadline extensions. The administration said the process would begin in the coming days, removing the last major land-acquisition hurdle identified in the current consent process.
The proposed airport requires 1,216 hectares spread across seven villages: Kumbharvalan, Vanpuri, Ekhhatpur, Pargaon, Munjwadi and Khanwadi. According to the district administration, 96% of farmers have agreed to the acquisition and 76% of the total land required for the project has already been handed over.
The remaining land is concentrated in Pargaon, where some farmers have continued to oppose the project. The administration had extended the deadline for affected landowners to submit consent letters twice, but the landowners did not agree to the acquisition. Pune District Collector Jitendra Dudi said the administration would now proceed with compulsory acquisition of the remaining 40 hectares.
The state government has announced compensation of ₹1.61 crore per acre for the land being acquired. Landowners are also eligible for separate compensation for trees, wells and existing structures located on their properties. The district administration said the state government had released funds for the acquisition process and that compensation totalling ₹4,000 crore had been credited to farmers’ bank accounts.
However, the compensation framework will differ for landowners whose properties are acquired compulsorily. The administration has clarified that these landowners will not receive the additional benefits and facilities offered to farmers who voluntarily consented to the acquisition. The distinction makes the compulsory route materially different from the consent-based process followed for most of the land.
The opposition in Pargaon has also involved legal proceedings. Farmers challenging the airport project had approached the Bombay High Court, but the district administration said the court dismissed their petition against the project. The supplied report does not provide details of the court’s order or the grounds on which the petition was dismissed.
The Purandar airport project has been planned as an international airport for Pune, with land acquisition requiring coordination between the state government, district administration and affected landowners across the seven villages. With the consent process now completed for most of the required land, the administration’s next step is to initiate compulsory acquisition for the remaining parcels in Pargaon. The timeline and procedure for completing that acquisition were not detailed beyond the Collector’s statement that it would take place in the coming days.
