Kannur: The political parties may play safe as far as the greenfield road (GFR) project to the Kannur international airport is concerned. Though all the parties support the proposed 20-km, multi-crore project from Thazhe Chovva in Kannur to Mattannur near the airport site, the local units are against it.
The government is firm on the project which provides better connectivity to the airport from Kannur and Kasargod, but the local people have been staging protests against it. The road passes through six panchayats.
“At present there are nine roads leading to the airport. The government should widen those roads for better connectivity and handle traffic instead of creating a new road altogether. Nearly 800 houses and 600 wells will go under if the project happens. We are not ready for any compensation package even if it is crores. The government should abandon the plan,” said Dr M. Muhammed Ali, patron of the action committee against GFR.
“If any party dares to support it in the manifesto, we will not vote for it,” he added. The six panchayats are considered as strongholds of the CPM.
“The CPM has made its stand clear. We support the project. However, the state government should declare an attractive package for the displaced,” said CPM leader and Mattannur municipality chairman K. Bhaskaran Master. DCC president K. Sreedharan also shared the same opinion.
KIAL managing director G. Chandra Mouli said, "for the development of the airport, connectivity is important."
The authorities couldn't start the survey for the road due to local protest which forced them to conduct an aerial survey.
A high-level meeting recently convened by the Chief Minister also decided to go on with the project with a good compensation package.
