C Murugan, 52, lives on his ancestral land growing paddy right next to his house in an idyllic setting in Meleri village of Tamil Nadu’s Kancheepuram district. But soon, he may have to make way for Chennai’s new greenfield airport, about 70 km from the city.
One of the two runways of the proposed airport is projected to run through Murugan’s farm and house, which means he will have to move out, a contingency he is not willing to entertain.
“They are going to destroy such a beautiful place to build another airport. Why do we need another one? Why can’t they take the project somewhere so people like us don’t have to leave our entire lives behind?” asks the 52-year-old farmer. “Because of the uncertainty, marriage proposals from our villages are being rejected. We are being looked at as parasites,” he gripes.
In order for the project to get going, residents of 13 villages in the area will have to make way for land acquisition of 4,791.29 acres, of which 2,605 acres are wetlands.
Residents of these villages have mounted a protest against the project, with some demanding fertile land in exchange and some others simply refusing to relocate.
Facing resistance, the Tamil Nadu government has increased its offer of compensation. The state announced on August 26 that it will provide 3.5 times the compensation for their land based on market value, alternative land to move and a government job for one member of each of the families who are affected.
From Murugan’s house, the proposed runway will go further south all the way to Ekanapuram (the village affected the most as it has the most number of people — 600 families and 1,400 voters) crossing a temple and a lake. The temple is the focal point of the protests and on November 3, the 13 villages marked the 100th day of protest.
Protests
Gram sabhas of the affected villages have passed three resolutions so far opposing land acquisition for the project.
Each evening around 7pm, residents of the 13 villages in their respective localities to hold the protest for a couple of hours — children, new mothers, senior citizens and men all protest in one voice.
During the day, the crowd at the temple is down to a trickle.
Local resident J Vijayakanth has tied a black flag to the temple gate. A black board hangs on the gate with a drawing of palm trees on the left and to the right, an illustration a plane. It says: “Ekanapuram village residents and farmers’ welfare collective against Parandur’s new airport”.
Vijayakanth shows videos of children raising slogans during their evening protests. They say, “Vivasayam vendum; Vimana Nilayam vendam ” meaning they want agriculture, but not an airport.
Families in the area are well settled, with most owning homes, farm lands and resources such as tractors. Most of them cultivate paddy. Farmhands form the poorer households. Meleri village alone produces 1,500 sacks of rice in three months which they sell to the government and mandis. They keep a few rice bags for themselves.
“Let me pose a challenge to the government,” says R L Ilango who owns farm land in Ekanapuram.
“Instead of giving us 3.5 times the money for our ancestral land, will they give us fertile land in exchange as compensation?” he asks, adding that the government is trying to cheat them.
“What kind of cruelty is this?” asks 76-year-old Kolapuri who lives alone. “At my age, where will I go? I will not be considered for a government job.”
“Even if they give me land next to (chief minister)Stalin’s house, I will not go,” says J Gajendran who owns 6 acres of a paddy field and built a one-storey house in the village less than a year ago.
The area’s villagers first heard reports of the second airport and its land acquisition in 2019. According to local resident M Balaraman, thenKancheepuram district collector P Ponniah dispelled the reports as rumours because of which the farmers continued to expand their homes.
M Thiruvengadam, who left Chennai after living there for 40 years and came back to his native Ekanapuram for taking up organic farming, strikes a light but defiant note in his refusal. “Even if they give land in Gopalapuram (DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi’s house) or the Marina beach, we won’t go. We are not even listening to what they have to offer as compensation,” he says.
To mark the 100th day of protest on November 3, some farmers wanted to tonsure their heads and hold a begging bowl while the women were to go on an opparai (a way of mourning loudly). But close to midnight on November 3, Kancheepuram district collector M Aarthi and superintendent of police M Sudhakar held a meeting with the protesters at the collectorate convinced them otherwise.
“They told us that the government is considering changing the design in a way that it doesn’t affect Ekanapuram,” says M Balaraman. “But we don’t know if we can really believe them.”
Site and its Surroundings
For the government, real estate players and industrialists, the question has moved from if to when the second airport will come up. The government has maintained a deadline of 2030 arguing that it is key to meet the target of becoming a $1 trillion state economy in that year.
On the way to Parandur just outside of Sriperumbudur, real estate groups have already put up hoardings advertising land for sale. The caption of one hoarding reads: “To Chennai’s New Internationally Connected Hub Green Field Airport and Chennai-Bangalore Expressway”. The slogan is accompanied with a picture of an aircraft and a metro rail. The land sale price is ₹10 lakh.
The 13 villages at the centre of the protest have been placed under police surveillance. Meleri resident B Shanmugham says, “We have to show our Aadhaar card when either leaving or entering the village.”
One of the officers stationed in Parandur explained that they do want the protests to be “infiltrated with anti-social elements.” After all, Tamil Nadu has a bloody history of protests — Salem-Chennai expressway protests and anti-Sterlite protesters in Thoothukudi.
TN goverment’s stance
On November 2, from the sidelines of a conference on the airport in Chennai, a senior government official had confirmed that they were indeed looking at various options to redesign the runway so that Ekanapuram isn’t wiped away entirely. However, the location of Parandur for the airport remains fixed.
Initially, 11 locations were shortlisted near Chennai. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) shortlisted four of these, eventually boiling down to just two locations – Parandur and Pannur. In August, the state conveyed its choice of Parandur during a meeting with Union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.
Justifying the Site
Minister for industries, investment, promotion and commerce, Thangam Thennarasu, said airport locations to the east, north and south of Chennai in Kancheepuram and Thiruvallur districts came with too many challenges.
Around Chennai, there is Kalpakkam atomic energy plant, Tambaram air base, Vedathangal bird sanctuary in the south and Paraverkadu, Pulicat lake and bird sanctuary in the north.
“We couldn’t have distubed this ecosystem and sensitive areas,” Thennarasu says.
“So it was better for us to go towards the west with fewer constraints so we chose Parandur. There too we have challenges.” the minister admits.
“On the one hand, our economy has to grow. We have to take care of industries. But we also have to protect the people’s livelihood, which is fully dependent on the land they have inherited over generations. So, we will create a socio-economic model which will give them upliftment. The chief minister told us to talk to them, to convince them about the facilities that are to come.”
Besides, Thennarasu, minister for public works, E V Velu and minister for rural industries and T M Anbarasan had held discussions with Ekanapuram villagers in Chennai in October.
According to state government functionaries, the ministers conveyed to the residents the findings of the AAI’s technical study on why Parandur was chosen.
Why does Chennai need a second airport?
Chennai is the third largest metro airport for international traffic in the country but has seen the second slowest growth in comparison to Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kolkata as of 2020, according to (CAPA) Centre For Asia Pacific Aviation.
The city’s existing airport has an annual passenger capacity of 22 million and is likely to peak over the next 7-8 years at 35 million.
Parandur airport’s annual passenger handling capacity is expected to be 100 million.
The government and experts believe the second airport will bring in more investment and air traffic, which can help in the growth of Tamil Nadu and the southern region.
The new airport, estimated to be built at a cost of ₹20,000 crore, is expected to take at least seven to eight years to be completed.
Upon completion, it will cater to passengers as well as cargo with two runways, multiple terminal buildings, taxiways and a cargo terminal. It is also expected to create an MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) facility which is lacking in Chennai’s existing airport.
Jumbo aircraft with a capacity of more than 400 passengers cannot land in the city’s present airport as it doesn’t have suitable aero-bridges and parking bays.
Tamil Nadu has four international airports in Chennai, Madurai, Trichy and Coimbatore.
“The existing airport (within the city) is not completely equipped or geared up to cater to our growing demands,” minister Thennarasu says.
“Unlike Hyderabad and Bengaluru, the main difference in Chennai is that both airports will co-exist. A lot of people are asking me why we cannot expand the existing airport,” says the minister.
He explained that the existing airport has space constraints. “We will need at least 400 acres to expand the existing airport to meet our growing demands,” he said, adding that it’s completely full of buildings, habitations, a river, hills, and a defence establishment.
The government is yet to take a call on whether they will make the existing airport solely domestic, or it will continue to cater to international flights.
Challenges & Solutions
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)-led Tamil Nadu government is intent on bringing everyone on-board its Parandur airport plan.
The conference on November 2, “Greenfield Airport: Timely Initiative to Fast Track TN’s Growth”, jointly organised by the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation Limited and the Madras Chamber of Commerce & Industry was one such effort.
Top industrialists and experts from the sectors of aviation, air freight, and travel were all in support of a second airport and spoke on how the government can do its best.
Experts have advised the state to construct the new airport to international standards, with more direct flights to global destinations, multimodal transport connectivity to the new airport as well as high-speed connectivity between Chennai’s existing Meenambakkam airport and the new site in Parandur for it to be successful. There are also recommendations to establish an aerotropolis like in Delhi.
Addressing another concern about why a passenger would travel 70 km from Chenani to catch a flight, Thenaarsu had said during the conference that Chennai’s metro rail service in Poonamallee can be expanded to Parandur. “We were recently in Tokyo for a summit,” he said, pointing out that the Narita International Airport is far from Japan’s capital. “But, there is a dedicated pathway from Narita.” The 258-km Chennai-Bengaluru expressway which is under construction and passes through Kancheepuram and Sriperumbudur, is also expected to hinge on the muli-modal connectivity. “So logistically Parandur is the right location,” the minister said.
Kapil Kaul, CEO and Director, CAPA Advisory says that by the time the new airport is ready for commercial operation- earliest by 2030- the current airport would be fully saturated.
According to Kaul, airports in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kochi will have developed to much larger ones with world class infrastructure by that time.
“So, maximising the current airport infrastructure to 35 million plus must be a top strategic priority whilst simultaneously ensuring the new airport is functional in 6-7 years,” Kaul says.
“Ensuring world class multi-modal infrastructure, including express connectivity between the current and the new airport is extremely vital. The expansion of the current and operationalising of the new airport must be part of the state’s overall master plan.”
He adds that it is critical for the Tamil Nadu government to reduce the punitive sales tax on Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) as this will allow more connectivity with breadth and depth at the current airport and this could be the foundation for the long-term network development at the new airport. “While other 8 states have punitive tax too, but airports like Bengaluru and Hyderabad compensate by their world class infrastructure and service model- allowing passengers and airlines to experience higher service levels,” Kaul said.
The second airport, officials believe, will also give a fillip to a plan for faster rail, road and air transport across the state. An important development linked to the second airport is the notification of the wider Chennai Metropolitan Area (CMA) and the need for the third master plan for the city, said S Krishnan, additional chief secretary (Industries) at the November 2 conference. “We can certainly address how we bring in an airport zone within our existing legal framework and the overall masterplan so that all the other attendant infrastructure can be planned.”
An environmental organisation, Poovulagin Nanbargal, released a seven-page report in October contending that the infrastructure will lead to flooding as the Parandur site is made up of wetlands. “We are not unaware of these issues,” said Krishnan.
Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) will soon float bids for appointment of a strategic advisor and commissioning of a techno-economic feasibility for the project. “We will ensure the flow of water to prevent any flooding in the new facility,” Krishnan said. He added that the government will also constitute a team of experts from the IIT-Madras and the College of Engineering, Guindy to study issues related to the water flow.
Meanwhile, negotiations between the villagers and officials and politics over the matter continue.
“We have never had to struggle for drinking water. If the airport comes here, it will become another Chennai where it is flooded when it rains and there is no water during the summer,” says Selva Kumar, who works in Chennai but visits Parandur during weekends.
“We have jobs but we have not given up farming. We help our parents while sowing and during the end of the season.”
Source: https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMibGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmhpbmR1c3RhbnRpbWVzLmNvbS9jaXRpZXMvb3RoZXJzL3N0aXItcmFnZXMtb3Zlci1zZWNvbmQtYWlycG9ydC1mb3ItY2hlbm5haS0xMDE2NjgzNjY2ODA3ODQuaHRtbNIBAA?oc=5
