Purandar windfall worries: Pune district admin plans safeguards

Pune: With land acquisition for the proposed Purandar airport set to begin on Thursday, the district administration is moving to put safeguards in place to ensure that villagers receiving large compensation payouts do not squander their windfall.District officials said the administration is finalising an MoU with Gokhale Institute of Economics and Politics to guide beneficiaries on prudent financial planning and investments. "We should be [executing] the MoU shortly so that they can be guided towards wise investments rather than squandering the amounts," an official told TOI.The move comes as several landowners in the villages that fall into the project's ambit are expected to receive compensation running into crores of rupees, following the recently finalised payout structure for the greenfield airport project.To address concerns over land return, the administration said it has taken steps to ensure that developed plots given in lieu of acquired land remain in the same vicinity. For this, additional govt land has been secured in Pargaon and Khanwadi villages, officials said.