Several rounds of negotiations with the 13 landowners affected by the construction of the Gelephu airport have failed. The then government had acquired over 236 acres of land for the airport construction from 141 land owners in 2010. Except for the 13 landowners, the rest have been compensated.
Yet another meeting between the 13 landowners and the Sarpang Dzongkhag officials was held on Monday to come to a consensus.
In June 2010, a meeting was held between the land owners and the members of Substitute land committee to acquire land for the airport construction. The meeting had decided that the land owners will be compensated with land through lucky dip system. Following that, the land owners gave no objection letter to the Department of Civil Aviation to carry out the works. In early 2011, as decided during the meeting, the land owners were given land compensation.
Land owners also carried out the cadastral land survey of the land they got in compensation and demarcated their boundaries.
However, the 29th National land commission meeting held on 24th November 2011 for the purpose of Gelegphu airport construction did not approve the land compensation of the 13 land owners. They replacement land was in Gelegphu Gewog. According to the 2007 Land Act, the land compensation has to be given from the same gewog.
The land record officer of Sarpang dzongkhag said the matter will be dealt as per the order of the National land commission.
The delimitation carried out by the Election Commission of Bhutan for the 2008 elections, revealed that the 27 acre land belonging to the 13 land owners fell within the extended town area of Gelegphu Thromde. However, it was only in July 2011, that the land documents of the area were taken over by the Gelegphu Thromde.
