As the Tamil Nadu government prepares to issue a tender to build the Parandur greenfield airport near Chennai, Sunday marked the 1,000th day of the protest by villagers in and around the region against the ₹20,000 crore project.
Despite the rehabilitation and resettlement package, villagers have been assembling to protest, stating that the project would affect their livelihood. Those against the project say the proposed project includes large portions of water bodies and agricultural lands, i.e. lands that are not for development and families that rely on agriculture will be displaced with no future livelihood opportunities.
Livelihood threat
Parandur Green Airport Project Protest Group & Ekanapuram Village Residents and Farmers Welfare Federation have urged both the State and Centre to drop the project. The Federation said the project would affect 13 villages, including Ekanapuram, Nelvoy, Valathur, Ediayarpakkam, Madapuram and Akkammapuram surrounding Parandur. While livelihood is a major issue, there are discrepancies in the data given by Tamilnadu Industrial Development Corporation Ltd ( Tidco), the Centre and the Government Order on the project, the groups said.
However, State government sources say that the settlement offered to those affected, as part of the resettlement and rehabilitation package, was very good. “We will sort out the issues with the villagers soon,” they said.
With the Centre having given its clearance for the construction of the project, it is set to enter the next stage of tendering soon. Chennai’s second airport can annually handle 10 crore passengers; will have two runways, terminal buildings, taxiways, an apron and a cargo terminal. The need for the airport arises because the Chennai airport handles over 2.2 crore people annually. After the ongoing modernisation work, it can handle 3.5 crore people annually for the next seven years.
Confident of going ahead with the project, the State government is considering a regional rapid transit system (RRTS) to the planned airport in Parandur. Two corridors will be studied to set up the RRTS — Chennai Airport to Parandur via Sriperumbudur and from Chennai to Parandur via Kancheepuram and Vellore via Parandur.