Greater Noida: The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to shift its proposal for an international airport from Greater Noida to Meerut, Shravan Kumar Sharma, Meerut divisional commissioner, said. Sharma is ex-officio chairman of the Meerut Development Authority which has been appointed the nodal authority for the project.

Mohinder Singh, chairman of Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority, could not be contacted despite repeated attempts. But a senior GNIDA official, not wishing to be named, said, ‘‘There obviously cannot be two airports as close to each other as Meerut and Greater Noida. So hopes of an airport in Greater Noida will have to be given up. And there might be a decline in land prices here, just as there was an escalation with hopes of an airport coming.’’

Ajit Sisodia, a realtor in Greater Noida, agreed. ‘‘There will be a drop in both purchases and rates of property in Greater Noida when people come to know that consultants are being called in to build an airport in Meerut. People may even start taking refunds,’’ he said.

However, Meerut MP Rajendra Agarwal is not convinced that the state government is serious about building an international airport in Meerut.

‘‘The state government had not even sought the Union government’s approval for an airport in Meerut at least until mid-December last year. I think some people in power merely want to push up land prices in Partapur so that properties owned by certain individuals can be sold at very high rates.’’ Inquiries made by TOI revealed that land rates in the area had indeed gone up considerably in the past few weeks, ever since talk of an airport in the area gathered momentum.