GMADA Announces ₹23,457.74 Crore Compensation Award for Aerotropolis Phase-2 Land in 8 Villages

What Was Decided

Amid intense protests by landowners and police action, the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) on Monday announced awards for the acquisition of 3,522.98 acres of land, amounting to over Rs 23,457.74 crore, in eight villages of Mohali for the next phase of the Aerotropolis project. The compensation for landowners ranges from Rs 6.29 crore to Rs 8.29 crore per acre, depending on the village, with landowners in Matran village receiving the highest compensation at Rs 8.29 crore per acre, followed by Bakarpur (Rs 8.22 crore), Siaun (Rs 7.33 crore), Bari (Rs 7.19 crore) and Patton (Rs 7.07 crore). Landowners in Kurdi, Chhat and Kishanpura will receive uniform compensation of Rs 6.29 crore per acre.

Village-Wise Break-Up

Officials said the largest area of land—1,395.90 acres—will be acquired in Kurdi village, where compensation amounting to Rs 8,778 crore has been fixed. In Patton village, compensation of Rs 2,940 crore has been fixed for 416.01 acres of land. Similarly, Rs 2,972 crore has been fixed for 405.76 acres in Siaun, Rs 2,701 crore for 375.78 acres in Bari, Rs 496 crore for 59.89 acres in Matran, Rs 422 crore for 51.33 acres in Bakarpur, and Rs 4,751 crore for a total of 755.57 acres in Chhat and Kishanpura.

Why These Eight Villages: The Aerotropolis Phase-2 Footprint

These eight villages were first identified for a Social Impact Assessment as far back as 2024–25. Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) had already developed Aerotropolis (A, B, C, D blocks) and planned to acquire land in these villages to develop E, F, G, H, I and J blocks. The development authority planned to develop 758 acres for E Block, 445 acres for F Block, 498 acres for G Block, 879 acres for H Block, 467 acres for I Block and 468 acres for J Block. Formal acquisition steps followed: a Section 4 notification for Pockets E–J was issued on March 24, 2026, and Section 21 public hearings were conducted between May 4–15, 2026, for the affected villages. The July 2026 award is the Section 23-stage compensation determination that follows those hearings.

Legal Basis and Process

The development authority acquired the land under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013. This statute requires a preliminary notification, a social impact assessment, public hearings, and a formal compensation award before possession can be taken — the sequence this Phase-2 acquisition has followed since 2024. Landowners who dispute the award amount can seek a higher sum through the Reference Court under the same Act, a route the Punjab government has recently used to unlock stalled compensation on earlier Aerotropolis pockets.

Landowner Objections and Protests

The award was announced amid intense protests by landowners and police action. Farmers' union leaders said: "The award announced is very low. GMADA sells the land for Rs 40 crore per acre after acquiring it from us but is throwing us crumbs. We completely oppose this move." This is not the first friction over this stretch of land: landowners of the same eight villages had earlier staged a protest inside the GMADA office against the government's land pooling policy for the Aerotropolis Phase-2 project, saying they would not give their land in Sector 87 to GMADA at any cost.

Wider Context: Greater Mohali–New Chandigarh Urban Expansion

This award sits inside a much larger acquisition drive across the Mohali–New Chandigarh belt. GMADA has set in motion the compulsory acquisition of over 11,103 acres across Greater Mohali and New Chandigarh, including seven new townships, seven new sectors, three new pockets of Aerotropolis, and a new commercial city centre in Sector 87, Mohali. This plan depends on seven new townships, seven new sectors including a commercial Sector 87 modelled on Chandigarh's Sector 17, a tripled Aerotropolis, and 1,240 acres of master plan roads.

The policy path to this point has been turbulent. The first Land Pooling Policy-2025, notified on June 4, 2025, proposed pooling 65,533 acres statewide compulsorily, telling farmers their land would be taken and developed plots returned in lieu whether they agreed or not. Protests erupted, backed by opposition parties, the Punjab and Haryana High Court issued an interim stay, and by August 2025 the government withdrew the policy entirely. A November 2025 revision made pooling optional, giving farmers the free choice between developed plots and cash. Under that revised approach, GMADA had already declared three awards totalling Rs 6,069 crore across 1,231 acres — Rs 3,690.32 crore for 716 acres of Eco City-3, Rs 446.22 crore for 206.39 acres of Aerotropolis Blocks A-D, and Rs 1,932.38 crore for 309.30 acres of a low/high-density township before this Aerotropolis Phase-2 (Pockets E–J) award followed in July 2026.

Legal Risk Flag

Readers should note that the acquisition notifications feeding into this award have faced court challenge. In June 2026, the Punjab and Haryana High Court issued notice to the Punjab government on a petition challenging the December 2025 and March 2026 land acquisition notifications for the Aerotropolis expansion, and an interim order staying the award was extended. If a stay is granted on acquisition proceedings, GMADA cannot take possession of land or issue Letters of Intent for the challenged pockets until the court decides the matter. As of late July 2026, it is not independently confirmed whether the July 20–21 award announcement supersedes or coexists with this litigation; landowners and prospective investors should track the case status directly before relying on the award as final.

Practical Effect

For the roughly 3,523 acres now covered by an award, the announcement moves the acquisition process from the hearing stage to compensation determination — the step that legally precedes deposit of funds and, ultimately, GMADA taking possession. Under the RFCTLARR Act, if a landowner disputes the compensation offered, they can approach the Reference Court for a higher award; the Land Acquisition Collector can instead deposit the disputed or pending amount before the Reference Court, after which the acquiring authority legally acquires the right to take physical possession of the land while the court adjudicates the dispute separately. For investors and locals tracking Aerotropolis, this Pocket E–J land remains several years from plot allotment: acquisition for these pockets is expected to take 2–3 more years minimum, and no official GMADA plot or LOI was available for Pockets E–J as of mid-2026, with these pockets still in land acquisition.