On 219th day, Medha Patkar joins Parandur protest

CHENNAI: Social activist Medha Patkar participated in the night protest along with the residents of Parandur on Thursday and demanded the government to change the location of the airport. She said the airport shouldn’t be constructed by destroying nature.

Interestingly, Patkar joined the protest on its 2019th day. She came to the protest site at around 6 pm, Thursday, and said the decision made by villagers in the Gram Sabha is very important and the government cannot avoid them as per the laws mentioned in the Panchayat Raj.

She said that destroying lakes and farmlands and constructing the airport is not a real development for a country and the government should start looking for a new location to construct the airport. If the government resumes the plan of constructing the airport in Parandur a huge protest will be made against the government by the local public, the prominent activist noted.

By constructing the proposed airport at Parandur, the government will have to take away the land of about 4,500 acres from 13 villages including Parandur, Egnapuram and Nelvoy. Soon after the government decided to build the airport, the residents started to protest against the government demanding to change the location of the airport.