Chennai, Aug 25:
The Tamil Nadu Assembly witnessed a heated political exchange on Tuesday over the State government’s decision to scrap the proposed Parandur greenfield airport, with ministers and opposition members trading sharp barbs over land acquisition, farmers’ interests and allegations surrounding the project.
The issue came up during the debate on demands for grants, with DMK MLA Austin questioning the TVK government’s decision to abandon the airport project. He said industrial development was the foundation of economic growth and argued that cancelling the Parandur airport could affect future investments in Tamil Nadu.
Responding to the criticism, Industries Minister Adhav Arjuna said Chief Minister Vijay had made it clear that an alternative site for the airport would be announced soon.
“If the choice is between an airport and the tears of farmers, our leader and Chief Minister Vijay will stand with the farmers,” he said, defending the decision to scrap the Parandur project.
He accused the previous DMK government of ignoring the concerns of farmers and said the project had been dropped to protect agricultural land and water bodies. He also hit out at the DMK over its handling of farmers’ protests in Parandur and Melma.
Adhav Arjuna said the government believed industrial growth did not depend solely on the Parandur airport project. He said the proposed single-window system and a corruption-free administrative framework would help attract investments to Tamil Nadu.
The minister further said the TVK government was prepared to present a white paper after five years to demonstrate the economic and industrial growth achieved during its tenure.
AIADMK MLA Edappadi Palaniswami, however, sought clarity on the fate of land already acquired for the project. He said the government had earlier stated that thousands of acres were required for the airport and questioned what would happen to landowners who had already parted with their properties.
He asked whether the acquired land would be returned to farmers and sought a detailed explanation from the government on the future use of the land.
Minister Nirmal Kumar responded by disputing claims that 90 per cent of the land required for the airport had been acquired. He said the project required a total of 5,846 acres, including 3,774 acres of patta land and 2,681 acres of multi-crop agricultural land.
According to him, only 1,202 acres, or around 48 per cent of the targeted land, had been acquired so far.
Nirmal Kumar also rejected claims regarding environmental clearances and made a sharp political remark alleging that certain people who had purchased land in the Parandur region and accumulated unaccounted wealth were the only ones opposing the government’s decision.
His reference to “G Square maappillai” triggered strong protests from DMK members.
The verbal sparring intensified when DMK MLA Thangam Thennarasu hit back, asking whether the government was planning to establish a new airport for some “lottery marumagan”, leading to commotion in the House.
Thangam Thennarasu defended the selection of Parandur, saying the site had been chosen after studying several possible locations. He argued that agricultural land would be present in several potential sites and that identifying land for a major infrastructure project without affecting people or farming communities would be difficult.
He also questioned how the government planned to develop a second runway at Chennai airport.
Later, Minister Keerthana said the government would utilise the land already acquired for projects that would not adversely affect local residents. She also questioned why the previous government had not expanded Chennai airport despite receiving approvals from the Central government.
The Parandur airport controversy has emerged as one of the first major points of confrontation in the Assembly, with the ruling TVK defending the decision as a move to protect farmers, agricultural land and water bodies, while opposition parties questioned its implications for industrial growth and the future of land already acquired for the scrapped project.