CHENNAI: Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) leaders on Tuesday met the villagers opposing the Rs 32,704 crore Parandur greenfield airport project in Kancheepuram district and discussed their concerns against land acquisition.
Top TVK leaders including Jegadeesan also inspected the site where the airport is to be built. They gathered information about the land acquisition process and the impact on agricultural land, water bodies, and residential areas.
Meanwhile, as the Kancheepuram district police haven't yet granted permission to TVK founder-chief Vijay to visit the protesting villagers, the party has decided to approach the Kancheepuram district collector. Vijay had expressed his opposition to the Parandur airport project in the past.
The Union government had announced Parandur as the location of the greenfield airport in August 2022. The airport was planned by acquiring 5,746 acres from 20 villages. The Union government is keen on completing the project by 2028.
Since the announcement of the airport project, people in villages, especially in Ekanapuram, which is one of the larger villages to be affected, have been vehemently protesting against the project in various phases, expressing ecological and livelihood concerns.
The protestors claim that a majority of the 5,000-plus acres of land earmarked for the airport were either agricultural land or waterbodies. The protests, conducted as nighttime demonstrations, hit the 900th day mark on January 10.