Civil society organisations and concerned citizens have united to protest the construction of a new airport in Parandur, in the outskirts of Chennai. The Rs 30,000-crore project is slated to come up in more than 5,000 acres of land, according to the State government. A majority of this land is agricultural and also includes many waterbodies.
According to civic and environmental activists, if the construction of the greenfield airport in Parandur goes ahead as per plan, it will have significant ecological and social repercussions — loss of natural habitats, potential flooding and a loss of livelihood for communities dependent on the fertile land for survival.
For over two years now, residents of the 13 villages have been protesting against the proposed project but to no avail. Recently, the Airports Authority of India urged protesting residents to appeal to the state government with their concerns. The proposed airport will also lead to unintended urbanisation within the surrounding areas, say the activists.
Read more: Taking flight: Does Chennai need a second airport and at what cost?
Keeping this in mind, Jhatkaa.org, a digital campaigning and advocacy organisation, has in partnership with Poovulagin Nanbargal, launched a signature campaign to save Parandur and call for expansion of Chennai’s existing airport. Over 700 citizens have joined this campaign. The signature petition urges the Tamil Nadu government and the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) to consider the following:
- Expand/scale up operations of the current Chennai International airport to avoid
ecological destruction - Consider an alternative site, which is not an ecologically sensitive zone, if need
be, for the construction of a second airport.
Those who want to support the cause can sign the petition here.
What the petition says
In the petition, the organisations have urged the authorities to use the existing Meenambakkam airport in Chennai to its optimum capacity. In 2023, the airport used only one runway largely, despite having a second one, according to an RTI response by the Airports Authority of India. Additionally, Tamil Nadu has many unused air strips located in areas like Arakkonam, Vellore, and Villupuram. And there are existing domestic airports in Madurai, Trichy and Salem which could be used as sites for the new international airport.
“Infrastructure development at the cost of ecology is a recipe for disaster. The impact of the climate crisis is more prevalent than ever before. Putting 36,000 trees, 13 villages, 10 lakes, countless cattle and acres and acres of fertile land under threat for the construction of ONE airport, will have adverse consequences for years to come. We must look at alternatives that are viable and sustainable in the long run,” said Adharika Kapoor, campaigner at Jhatkaa.org.
“Southeast Asia is called a hydrological civilisation due to the rain harvesting system persistent in these regions. The north western part of Tamil Nadu which consists of Chennai, Thiruvallur, Kanchipuram & Chengelpet has many hydrological systems; both natural and handmade. It acts as a nerve system for rainwater harvesting and water flow of the region,” said M.Vetriselvan, Advocate for Poovulagin Nanbargal.
He added that this project will cut down the nerves of flood and drought management which have existed for hundreds of years. “In spite of the warnings given by IPCC in the 6th assessment report, to protect the 40% of the existing land to mitigate and adapt to climate change, this project will result in the land use change of around 5,000 acres of land consisting of agriculture and wetlands.”
[This is based on a press release from the named organisations and has been published with some edits.]