Eknapuram residents sign petition to shift Greenfield airport

CHENNAI: Villagers and residents of Eknapuram signed a request letter during the Gram Sabha meeting on Thursday and the same resolution was forwarded to the Collector seeking his intervention.

On Thursday, ahead of the Republic day, gram sabha was held in the Eknapuram village panchayat. Many villagers attended the meeting and they were against the State and Union government's decision to construct the Greenfield airport in Parandur. The villagers said that the government should drop the Parandur project and look for a different location for the construction of the airport. All the villagers who attended the meeting signed a request letter and sent it to the Collector.

Earlier, the villagers had already protested against the government's decision and during the last three council meets of gram sabha they signed the letter and sent it to the collector. The villagers are also continuing their daily night protest for more than 180 days and said they would never stop the protest till the government changes the location.

The villagers said that if the government takes the next step in this project their protest would also go to the next level.

The government last year decided to construct the Greenfield airport in Parandur by taking the farmland from 13 villages, including Parandur, Eknapuram and Nelvoy, for 4,750 acres and right after the announcement the villagers started to protest in various ways everyday against the government decision.