The residents of Parandur village in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu adopted a resolution for the fifth time against Chennai’s second greenfield airport project. Residents belonging to Eganapuram and 12 other neighbouring villages have been protesting against the project for more than 200 days.
During the Gram Shaba meeting on World Water Day, on March 22, people from Eganapuram passed the resolution against the project. "We oppose the project that would make the residents of this area inland refugees by damaging the agriculture lands, residential areas, and water bodies," the resolution reads. The residents of Eganapuram requested the state and union governments to drop the project and asserted that they would never accept the airport project.
People of Parandur and surrounding areas have been opposing the project from the time it was announced, despite attempts by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government to pacify them. The project is presently open to bids from the consultants for the Techno-Economical report. Parandur residents refused to accept the compensation, which is 3.5 times the value of their property.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on August 2, last year, announced that a second airport for the city would come up at Parandur near Chennai at an estimated cost of Rs 20,000 crore with an annual capacity of 10 crore passengers. It will have two runways, terminal buildings, taxiways, apron, cargo terminal and other required amenities. The present Chennai airport can handle 2.2 crore passengers annually and this could go up to 3.5 crore at the end of the ongoing expansion work after seven years.