CHENNAI: BJP state president Nainar Nagenthran on Thursday (July 9) accused the ruling TVK government of attempting to derail the proposed Parandur greenfield airport project, alleging that Energy Resources and Law Minister R Nirmalkumar had made 'false claims' about the site's feasibility and was misleading the public.
In a statement, Nainar Nagenthran said the government's stand would impede Tamil Nadu's economic growth and deprive thousands of young people of future employment opportunities. He alleged that the project had received in-principle approval from the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation only after extensive technical scrutiny and questioned the minister's claim that a runway could not be constructed because the site contains nearly 800-900 acres of water bodies.
"Claiming now that a runway cannot be built at Parandur is an outright lie and a betrayal of Tamil Nadu's future," he said.
The BJP leader asserted that the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the Ministry of Defence had conducted comprehensive technical studies before granting policy-level clearances and had taken the site's water bodies into account in the evaluation process.
"When expert committees have already recommended engineering solutions to protect the water bodies while constructing the runway, why is the government creating a new controversy now? Is this a genuine technical issue or an attempt to sacrifice the State's development for cheap vote-bank politics?" he asked.
Nainar further said Chennai International Airport had little scope for further expansion because of space constraints and warned that delaying the Parandur project would adversely affect Tamil Nadu's international trade and investment prospects.
Urging the State government to cooperate with the Centre, he called for the project to be taken forward without further delay, saying it was vital for the State's long-term economic and infrastructure development.