Hyderabad: The Telangana government released ₹205 crore for land acquisition to expand the proposed Warangal airport at Mamnoor, where construction is planned over a total of 949.14 acres.
The Airport Authority of India (AAI) currently controls 696.14 acres. The newly sanctioned funds will facilitate compensation for acquiring the remaining 253 acres, covering agricultural and non-agricultural plots across Gadepalli, Nakkalapalli, and Gunturupalli villages.
Warangal district officials said compensation has already begun. District Collector Satyasharadha confirmed that ₹13.74 crore has been deposited into the accounts of 15 farmers with clear land titles. The acquisition includes 240 acres of farmland and over 61,000 square yards of non-agricultural land. Twelve families are set to lose their homes.
After several rounds of negotiation, the government fixed compensation at ₹1.2 crore per acre for farmland and ₹4,887 per square yard for non-agricultural land. However, no consensus has been reached on compensation for houses. At a Gram Sabha in Gadepalli, Additional Collector Sandhya Rani proposed ₹11.56 lakh per affected family, plus additional reimbursement for building costs. Officials asked landowners to submit consent letters to the tahsildar.
Displaced residents, however, demanded market-rate compensation, leaving the proposal unresolved.
Officials said airport construction would begin once land acquisition is complete and could be finished in three years. Minister Konda Surekha, Warangal MP Dr. Kadiyam Kavya, and Wardhannapet MLA K.R. Nagaraju welcomed the funding release. Surekha thanked Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and Deputy CM Bhatti Vikramarka, adding that the airport is being modelled on Kochi International Airport.
