The protest committee members called on Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay at the Secretariat to thank him for keeping his promise to them on cancelling the project when his party captured power in the State. (Photo: X)

 Chennai: Scrapping of the new airport project at Parandur raised a storm for the second day both in the Legislative Assembly and outside of it with the head of the protest committee against the Greenfield airport in Parandur, Subramanian, accusing DMK leaders of making huge investments on land in the area expecting to reap manifold profits out of their investments once the project became a reality.

The protest committee members called on Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay at the Secretariat to thank him for keeping his promise to them on cancelling the project when his party captured power in the State. Speaking to the media outside the Secretariat, Subramanian said that while all the political parties, including the AIADMK, had welcomed Vijay’s announcement on finding an alternative site for the second airport for Chennai, the DMK alone was raising a hullabaloo.

Inside the Assembly, taking part in a discussion on the demands for grants for the industries and other departments, DMK MLA, S Austin, said that the scrapping of the airport project would affect industrial growth in the State. He was supported by former Finance Minister and DMK member Thangam Thenarasu.

To a question from AIADMK general secretary and former Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on what the government proposed to do with the 1700 acres of land that had already been acquired in the last four years for the airport project, State Industries Minister S Keerthana said that the government would utilize the land for other development projects.

Denying an earlier claim by Thennarasu that 90 percent of the land required for the Greenfield airport had already been acquired, Subramian said that it was wrong and asked how 1700 acres would make 90 percent of 5740 acres that was earmarked for acquisition. He thanked Vijay profusely for meeting them when they were protesting against the project and also keeping his word on scrapping it.

They could not meet any other prominent leader of the DMK at that time despite their earnest efforts to call on the then Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin and apprise him of their grievances that included the potential loss of 2500 acres of Nanjai (fertile water fed) land and 1300 acres of Punjai (dry) land for the impending project, he said.

Apart from the vast stretches of agricultural land, the project would also have spelt the death knell for 12 lakes, 17 ponds and 17 other water sources in the earmarked region that basically comprised 26 percent water bodies.

The construction of the airport would have destroyed the 1100 year old Kamban Canal and blocked the flow of water into the Chembarambakkam Lake which is one of the water sources for Chennai city and impeded the visit of birds to the Vedanthangal sanctuary, he said.

Now that their agricultural lands and livelihoods had been saved by Vijay’s announcement on the dropping of the project, they broke into celebration in Parandur and had proposed to name one of the main roads in Eganapuram as ‘Thalapathi C Joseph Vijay Road.’

Taking part in the Assembly debate, Sport Minister Aadhav Arjuna said that a big land scam had been averted by the dropping of the project. When he said that a famous son-in-law should be aggrieved by the development, Thennarasu rose to ask if the airport had been shifted to a new venue to benefit the son-in-law and a leading businessman.

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