Parandur: Tamil Nadu government to acquire 67 hectares more for Chennai’s second airport
A public hearing will also be held on July 22 and 23, said the government
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CHENNAI: Amid the continuous protest by the villagers, the state government has commenced the procedure for the acquisition of 147 acres of land in Edayarpakkam village near Parandur for the construction of Greenfield Airport and has notified the villagers of the same.
The lands from Edaiyarpakkam are being acquired for the Greenfield airport as part of the second phase. Earlier as part of the first phase, the government acquired 98 acres of land from Podavur village near Parandur in March. The government is keen to complete the construction of the airport at the earliest and start the flight operations by 2028.
The government on Monday sent a notification regarding the land acquisition to the villagers. The government has planned to acquire 147.2 acres of land from the Edayarpakkam village and the villagers who have objections regarding the acquisition are asked to address them to the Special Revenue Divisional officer within 30 days. A public hearing will also be held on July 22 and 23, said the government.
The government notification angered the villagers as they have been protesting for nearly 700 days. The initial announcement of this project did not have much impact as no farmland or waterbody was considered for acquisition.
However, the villagers protested against the plan saying that it was their homeland for generations and would never leave their land.
Citing the same reason now, the villagers stated that said that they would never stop their protest and discussions are under way about how to proceed with the protest to the next level.
The Central government announced Parandur as the location for the Greenfield airport in August 2022. Earlier, the government had planned to acquire about 4,870 acres of land from 13 villages but last year it was extended to 5,746 acres from 20 villages.
The villagers of Eganapuram, Parandur, and its surrounding villages were protesting in various ways to grab the attention of the government right from the day of the announcement.
