CHENNAI: The Kancheepuram district administration begins to acquire lands for the construction of the Greenfield airport in Podavur village on Friday.
The villagers who have been protesting every day against the airport for 592 days said that their protest will continue and will soon plan for a huge protest.
The Central government announced Parandur as the location of the Greenfield airport in August 2022 and the airport was planned to be constructed by acquiring lands from 20 villages.
Since all the farmlands are being destroyed for the construction of the airport the villagers have been protesting from the day of the announcement against the government to change the location of the airport.
Earlier it was planned to construct the airport on about 4,870 Acres by acquiring the lands from 13 villages but last year it was announced that 5746 Acres would be acquired for the construction of the airport and waterbodies and farmlands from 20 villages will be acquired.
Two weeks ago a notification was sent to the villagers in Podavur village near Parandur by the Special Revenue Divisional officer about acquiring the lands and said that objections should be filed within 30 days.
However, since there was no water body or farmlands in the first phase of 98 Acres of Podavur village there were no objections from the villagers. Following that on Friday morning the Special Revenue officers visited the spot and began to mark the spots.
Meanwhile, the villagers who are gathering every night for 592 days and protesting against the airport said that they will never stop their protest and soon they will discuss and protest in a huge manner against the government for proceeding with the airport expansion work.