TN government gears up to acquire land near Parandur for semiconductor park

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government is gearing up to acquire land for an Sipcot Industrial Park at Madhuramangalam, a site that is located near Parandur where a greenfield airport for Chennai was proposed by the previous government but was cancelled by the present regime.

The State is planning to set up a Semiconductor Electronics Manufacturing Park at Madhuramangalam in Kancheepuram district through SIPCOT at a cost of Rs 175 crore to attract large-scale investments in the sector, which is high on the agenda of all state governments across the country.

A notice issued by Commissioner of Land Administration Rajesh Lakhoni said that around 8.3820 hectares of land was required for industrial purposes. In the notification, he added the lands to be acquired were classified as dry lands, and contained neem and coconut trees.

"The plans of the lands are kept at the office of the Special District Revenue Officer and Special Tahsildar and may be inspected on any day during office hours, " Lakhoni said.

The notification comes close on the heels of the announcement by Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay under Rule 110 in the Assembly, stating that the proposed park would house semiconductor industries along with research and development facilities.

The project is expected to generate direct and indirect employment for around 5,000 people, giving a major boost to Tamil Nadu's electronics and semiconductor ecosystem.

Incidentally, Madhuramangalam is not far from Parandur and Eganapuram, where the villagers opposed acquisition of their farmlands for the second airport for Chennai. While the then DMK government went ahead with the plan despite the stiff opposition from the people and acquired around 1,700 acres of land, the TVK had expressed support to them ahead of the Assembly election, and scrapped the project after coming to power.