Greenfield airport: Parandur students skip classes to protest

CHENNAI: School students of Parandur and its surrounding villages skipped their classes and protested in front of the schools with black flags along with their parents on Friday against the government to change the location of the airport.

A few days ago, K Selvaperunthagai of the Sriperumbudur Constituency said that the VAO office in Eknapuram is in a bad shape and needs to be renovated. In response the minister KKSSR Ramachandran said since Eknapuram comes within the Greenfield airport it needs to be discussed with the concerned minister and the work can be done only after that.

This statement from the minister irked the villagers and they decided to protest by not sending their children to the schools.

The villagers and the students gathered outside the schools and protested by holding black flags demanding the government to change the location of the Greenfield airport. They wondered how the minister can give such a statement in the Assembly.

Due to the protest, schools did not operate on Friday since all the classrooms were empty without students. However, the board exams were held without any issues.

The government last year announced Parandur as the location of the Greenfield airport and for the project around 4,750 acres of land from 13 villages are being taken by the government.

After the announcement, villagers have been protesting in various ways demanding to change the location of the airport. They have been holding night protest for more than 200 days regularly to grab the attention of the officials and have decided not to give up their protest till their demands are met.