Villagers stage walkout as Ministers turn up late

CHENNAI: After anxiously waiting for Ministers to arrive to start the public hearing to raise their concerns over the proposed greenfield airport in Parandur, villagers who gathered at Kancheepuram Collectorate entered into an argument with the officials staged a walkout on Tuesday.

Worried that they would lose their farms and waterbodies after the State government announced that it received clearance from the Centre to set up the new airport there, the people from Parandur, Egnapuram, Nelvoy and surrounding areas protested and appealed to the government to shift the airport.

During the Gram Sabha meeting on Monday, the villagers and Egnapuram village panchayat president sent a signed letter to Collector M Aarthi requesting to scrap the plan.

Following this, a public meeting was convened on Tuesday during which five people from each of the 12 villages were to get an opportunity to raise their concerns with Ministers EV Velu, Thangam Thennarasu and TM Anbarasan.

The meeting was scheduled to commence at 10 am, but the Ministers did not reach till even noon. Irked by this, the villagers started to argue with the police and revenue officials who were present at the Collectorate and then decided to stage a walk-out to register their protest.

By the time the Ministers arrived around 12.30 pm, most of the villagers had already returned from the venue, leaving only a handful of them. The remaining people told the ministerial delegation that their land should not be affected because of the airport.

To this, the Ministers said their land would not be affected and assured to take steps in this regard after discussing the matter with Chief Minister MK Stalin.