India, March 5 -- The state government on Wednesday announced that land parcels spread over more than 400 hectares in four villages in Panvel will be de-notified, allowing land owners to sell their plots in the private market. Minister Uday Samant made the announcement in the legislative council while responding to a question from BJP MLC Vikrant Patil.

Patil pointed out that the state government had started acquiring land via CIDCO in villages in Panvel, Uran, and Thane tehsils about 50 years ago, for setting up Navi Mumbai. While many landowners were compensated, in some cases where CIDCO did not take possession of the land, no compensation was provided to land owners. But the said land parcels were not de-notified, and owners were not...