Parandur villagers protested by standing on the farm fields on 600th day of protest

CHENNAI: Parandur villagers protested by standing in the farm fields following their 600th day of protest against the Greenfield airport on Saturday.

On Saturday morning, the villagers of Parandur and its surrounding villages went to farm fields facing land acquisition, protested against the state government. The farmers raised slogans demanding the state and centre to drop the Parandur airport plan and change the location of the airport.

The villagers said that they had decided to stop the everyday night protest from Saturday and hereafter will fight against the government legally. The villagers also said that all of them have decided to boycott the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and they would not allow any political party leaders inside their village for the election campaign.

The Central government announced Parandur as the location of the Greenfield airport in August 2022 and the airport was planned to be constructed by acquiring lands from 20 villages.

Since all the farmlands are being destroyed for the construction of the airport the villagers have been protesting from the day of the announcement against the government to change the location of the airport.

A few weeks ago a notification was sent to the villagers in Podavur village near Parandur by the Special Revenue Divisional officer about acquiring the lands and said that objections should be filed within 30 days. Following that last week, the district administration began the procedures of acquiring the lands in the first phase.