Chennai, 24 August

DMK President M K Stalin on Monday hit out at Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay for dropping the Parandur greenfield airport project after the completion of the land acquisition process and said Tamil Nadu's interests cannot be "mortgaged for petty political considerations."

Terming the rejection of the project proposal, conceived during the DMK regime, as a massive disappointment, the former CM said the decision is an irreversible setback for Tamil Nadu's growth.

"The announcement made today by the Hon'ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu to drop the Parandur International Airport project will set the state's development back by several years. Tamil Nadu's interests cannot be mortgaged for petty political considerations," the DMK chief said in a statement here.

The decision to drop Parandur airport project is a devastating blow to employment dreams of TN's youth, he added.

Referring to the statement on Parandur by CM Vijay in the Assembly under Rule 110 which disallows any discussion, he said "shutting out" opportunity for debate is deeply troubling.

Tamil Nadu leads the country across sectors, from electronics exports to automobiles. A world-class airport in its capital is not merely desirable, but absolutely essential.

"Rejecting such a vital project is not change. It is a massive disappointment. The site was carefully selected after evaluating all available alternatives, and the land acquisition process has been almost completed. With several stages of preparatory work and approvals already completed, we had drawn up plans to ensure that construction could begin at a rapid pace once we returned to office."

If the new government now starts all over again, identifies another location and goes through the entire process before work can even begin, "Tamil Nadu's growth trajectory itself will drop," Stalin said.

Under the Dravidian model government, Tamil Nadu became the first port of call for investors, he claimed.

"This decision threatens to push the state to the bottom of the table. The Chief Minister’s announcement is nothing short of a jackpot for competing States."

Without industrial growth, economic targets of one trillion USD or 1.5 trillion USD are simply impossible to achieve. Taken without foresight, planning or consultation, this decision by the TVK government is a "devastating blow" to the employment dreams of Tamil Nadu's youth, the DMK chief added.

Leader of Opposition, Udhyanidhi Stalin, also slammed the government over the move.

The DMK leader said that his party-led government had initiated the project considering the growing air passenger number and future needs. The airport project was approved by the Airports Authority of India and Union Civil Aviation Ministry.

The DMK government invested huge sums towards providing three times compensation to landowners and resettlement.

"After all this, if the project is being dropped for petty political reasons, it will lead to big financial loss to the government," he said in a post on 'X.'

Meanwhile, the people of Ekanapuram, which is one of the villages that would have been affected by the Parandur project welcomed the decision and thanked CM Vijay.

Parandur is located near the Chennai-Bengaluru highway, roughly 28 km from Sriperumbudur.

In a major policy shift, Vijay announced that the Parandur greenfield airport project will be abandoned and an alternative site will be identified for the airport project.

The TVK government, Vijay said, stands firmly with the people and would not allow an airport to disrupt the local communities. Nearly 55 percent of the land chosen for the project comprised crucial waterbodies and wetlands, making runway operations highly unsafe and risking severe flooding in the area.

Noting that the administration was not against development, the CM said the government would actively pursue an alternative location for Chennai's second airport. The new site will be selected through thorough expert technical feasibility studies and will be chosen where there is no public opposition.