Clearing the decks for the construction of the international greenfield airport at Jewar, farmers of the Greater Noida and adjoining areas met Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and handed him agreement letters, allowing the government to acquire the land for the airport.

A delegation of the farmers from Greater Noida met the CM at his official residence on Wednesday and said that majority of them were ready to allow the government to acquire land after paying the required compensation.

The CM told the delegation that the farmers had always played a key role in the development of the state and their contribution in the construction of the international greenfield airport at Jewar would be written in golden letters.

"On the part of the government, we will ensure that the farmers get the compensation as agreed and in case there is rehabilitation, the farmers will also get the rehabilitation package," Yogi said.

The farmers' delegation was led by ruling party lawmaker from Jewar, Dhirendra Singh Rohi. This meeting will be a shot in the arm of the government as a section of farmers had staged protests, saying they would not give their land to the government for construction of Jewar airport because they were not getting compensation. The opposition parties had tried to make it a big issue, saying the government was not serious in the construction of airport at Jewar.

The protests had started after the detailed project report (DPR) and techno-economics feasibility report (TEFR) of this project was prepared. The said report was prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

As per this report, 1,441 hectare land spread over eight villages will be acquired. The proposed airport will be built on PPP (public-private partnership) model at a cost of Rs 15,754 crore. The government has already earmarked Rs 130 crore for land acquisition.

The proposed airport will have two runways and will have a capacity to handle 70 million passengers annually.

Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority Chairman Prabhat Kumar and SP Goyal, the Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, were present on this occasion.