Minister of State for Civil Aviation Vijay Kumar Singh said the decision to choose Parandur as a site for Chennai airport was taken by Tamil Nadu and not by the Union government. Addressing reporters in Tirunelveli on Saturday, January 27, he said they had selected two locations for the airport and carried out a study. "We told them the requirements for both locations. The final decision was taken by the Tamil Nadu government. It has nothing to do with the Union government. We will only build it if Tamil Nadu wants it and the people of Tamil Nadu want it,” he said. Singh is visiting the state to attend various Bharatiya Janata Party programmes.
Meanwhile, the people of Parandur and other 12 neighbouring villages in Kanchipuram – earmarked for Chennai’s second airport – passed a resolution against the airport construction on January 26. The residents have been protesting against the proposed greenfield airport after the announcement made by Chief Minister MK Stalin in August 2022. This is the fourth time they have passed a resolution against the proposed project, and they continue their evening protest after work, school and college hours.
On December 21, the protestors met Ministers Thangam Thennarasu, EV Velu, TM Anbarasan, and Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader Selvaperunthagai. After the meeting, MLA Selvaperunthagai placed the blame on AIADMK for proposing multiple sites for the project without knowing whether these sites were suitable for the project. Recently, Tamil Nadu announced that a feasibility study will be conducted by faculty members from Anna University and IIT-Madras along with the Water Resources Department to check whether Parandur is suitable for the project.
Pannur, Parandur, Thiruporur, and Padalam were the sites identified for the construction of the greenfield airport. On August 1, 2022, in response to a question raised by Kanimozhi NVN Somu, a Rajya Sabha MP from Tamil Nadu, VK Singh said Tamil Nadu had shortlisted Parandur as the site for the second airport for Chennai.
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