Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay on Monday (August 24) announced in the Assembly that his three-month-old government has scrapped the greenfield airport for Chennai in Parandur, Kanchipuram district, an …

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay on Monday (August 24) announced in the Assembly that his three-month-old government has scrapped the greenfield airport for Chennai in Parandur, Kanchipuram district, an ambitious project conceived under the 2021-2026 DMK regime. Vijay — who fulfilled the promise he made to the villagers of Ekanapuram in 2025 that he would scrap the project if his Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) was voted to power — also said his government acknowledged the need for a second airport for Chennai, which is emerging as the key hub for electronics manufacturing and assembling, and will scout for land near the state capital for the facility. Here is an explainer on how Parandur was chosen, why villagers and environmentalists red-flagged the project, and how it was cancelled. How old is the proposal to have a second airport for Chennai? The proposal dates back to as early as 1999 when the then DMK government conceived the idea to build a greenfield airport for Chennai to replace the Meenambakkam Airport. However, things did not move as expected and after coming to power in 2006, the DMK government under M Karunanidhi chose Sriperumbudur as the location for the new airport but backed down due to vociferous opposition from PMK, a key ally of the ruling party. After years of delay, the AIADMK government under Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami in 2019 revived the project and asked the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to study four locations — Parandur, Pannur, Padalam, and Thiruporur — for the feasibility of an airport. The AAI rejected Padalam and Thiruporur for security reasons and said the remaining two sites were suitable for building the facility. However, the government could not choose the site due to Covid-19 pandemic. How Parandur was chosen for housing the greenfield airport?The new DMK government under Chief Minister M K Stalin revived the project and chose Parandur over Pannur in August 2022. The government had then said Pannur was not entirely suitable for the airport since the area is densely populated and have more obstacles compared to Parandur. The government identified 5,746 acres across 13 revenue villages in Kanchipuram district and formally announced the project — Parandur Airport. About 1,000 houses from various villages had to be razed and people have to be relocated. The airport was planned to have two runways, a dedicated cargo village, and an Aerocity. Parandur was also chosen because of its geographical location — the nearest railway station is about 8 kms in Thirumalpur and the new Chennai-Bengaluru Expressway is just a few kms from the villages. The government had also planned to extend Chennai Metro from Poonamallee on the outskirts of Chennai to Parandur. Parandur project dropped: Tamil Nadu looks to AAI for greenfield airport sitesWhy villagers plunged into protest? Villagers of Parandur, Ekanapuram, and Nagapattu declared their opposition to the project as fertile farm lands will be acquired for building the airport. The protests in Ekanapuram turned vociferous after it emerged that the entire village will disappear as the land parcels acquired from them will form the airport’s runway. The village alone would have lost all 605 houses and 900 acres of land — people protested against the airport for 1,200 days. Protests in other villages fizzled out slowly but Ekanapuram residents showed their resilience and fanned out across the state drumming up support for their agitation. Besides refusing to part with their lands, the villagers also raised several environmental concerns as 12 lakes, 20 ponds, and several small waterbodies will be affected if the project is implemented. The government’s offer of 3.5 times more compensation than the market rate, job for one person in a family, and a new house didn’t move the villagers of Ekanapuram. What were the concerns of environmentalists? They said wetlands, irrigation tanks, ponds, and lakes were being destroyed to build the airport and warned that filling and obstructing natural water courses, including the Kamban Canal which connects a vast network of local water bodies, would disrupt drainage and increase severe monsoon flooding risks in Chennai and surrounding corridors.The environmentalists also said the airport project would ruin natural rainwater storage and harm local groundwater recharge and warned that it would increase the impact of heat in Chennai and neighbouring areas. The then DMK government appointed a retired bureaucrat, S Machendranathan, to go into the concerns of the villagers and suggest ways to minimise damage to ecology. Though the report was never made public, it is believed that the bureaucrat warned of several hydrological issues at the Parandur site. Why did TVK and its leader C Joseph Vijay came out against the project?Vijay’s TVK was less than a year-old when he declared his support for the villagers of Ekanapuram and spoke against the Parandur airport. His team advised Vijay that this was a golden opportunity for him to back the villagers in their protest and send a message that he will stand behind the people of Tamil Nadu.In January 2025, Vijay went to Ekanapuram to meet with the villagers and announced that the Parandur Airport project will be scrapped if his TVK came to power in 2026 assembly elections. However, he said he was only opposed to the site, not to the airport project. Vijay also met the villagers more than once and even helped them file a case in the Madras High Court against acquiring their land. As TVK leader, Vijay also quoted experts to say that even landing an aircraft would be problematic in Parandur as the area was not suitable for building an airport. What did Vijay as Chief Minister said while scrapping the project?The Chief Minister said the steps taken to establish a new airport in Parandur will be abandoned by his government, fulfilling a promise he made to the people of Ekanapuram. What was the status of the Parandur Airport before it was scrapped? Notwithstanding the protests, the then DMK government moved ahead and received the mandatory in-principle approval for the project in March 2025 and began acquiring land in July 2025. About 1,700 acres of land from private individuals were acquired — the compensation ranged from Rs 35 lakh to Rs 1.10 crore per acre. The government owns about 1,900 acres in the region, and about 47 per cent of land acquisition was complete as of July 2026. The then DMK government also conduct a social impact assessment study, prepared documents for seeking environmental clearance, and prepared documents for floating the concessionaire bids for building the airport. Free LPG cylinders, expansion of fare-free bus travel for women, scrapping Parandur airport: Full list of Tamil Nadu CM Vijay’s key announcements so farWhat happens to the land acquired from individuals?After scrapping the project, Industries Minister S Keerthana told the Tamil Nadu Assembly on August 25 that the government intends to utilise the 1,700 acres of land acquired from private individuals for the Parandur airport to house industries that “do not affect people.” However, this proposal is likely to face opposition from villagers whose land was acquired — a field visit by DH in June revealed that many were planning to seek higher compensation from the government if it scraps the airport project and utilises the land for other industrial purposes, while others stated they would not allow any polluting industries.What is the industry’s reaction to the scrapping of the Parandur Airport project? Industry bodies believe that Chennai not merely needs a second airport, but that the existing airport in Meenambakkam should also be modernised and expanded to cater to the needs of the people till the new one is ready in about a decade. They say the need for an airport should not be looked at merely from the perspective of passenger traffic but also freight, since Chennai has now grown into a hub for several industries like automobiles, electronics, and semi-conductor. The industry bodies argue that increased and seamless connectivity from Chennai is key to achieving the new TVK government’s vision to make Tamil Nadu a USD 1.5 trillion economy by 2036.Meanwhile, the Chennai [airport] has slipped to sixth place in India in overall passenger traffic, with even Kolkata moving ahead of it in the latest rankings. Over the last decade, Chennai’s passenger traffic grew by only about 25 per cent, compared with a 105 per cent growth in Bengaluru and 100 per cent in Hyderabad. Though the Airports Authority of India (AAI) keeps building terminals to cater to growing needs, these are simply not enough and the facility is plagued with parking and other passenger amenity problems.What happens to the greenfield airport proposal? The Tamil Nadu government would now seek the assistance of the AAI in identifying sites for the development of a greenfield airport in Chennai, while supporting efforts to expand the capacity of the existing Meenambakkam airport to cater to growing passenger demand.The government said new alternate sites will be identified in consultation with experts for the development of the greenfield airport. Feasibility studies for these sites will be carried out through the AAI, and subsequently, the government will take necessary action for the development of the airport based on the recommendations of the feasibility study.However, experts say it will be impossible to find 5,000 to 6,000 acres of land parcel near Chennai without affecting people or farm lands. They also want the government to immediately start searching for land as it takes about seven to 10 years to build an airport from the scratch.

Source: Deccan Herald