CHENNAI: Chennai airport requires 150 acres for expansion and this has been one of the major concerns of people of surrounding villages who came to the environmental public hearing on Wednesday. The hearing was held in connection with the second phase of airport modernisation.Although the second phase is to be done in-house, the focus of the hearing had been on airport seeking 150 acres for installing safety and approach lights as people from surrounding villages, which include Pozhichalur and Cowl Bazaar, expressed fears of losing their property.
Airport Director G Chandramouli, who was present at the public hearing, said the airport initially sought 200 acres and later restricted it to 150 acres. Of this area, 40 acres are defence lands belonging to the Officers Training Academy.“We require 110 acres and the State government is
acquiring the land,” he said at the hearing.
Highlighting their plight, Kathiravan of Cowl Bazaar said the residents are always in distress. “We are not even getting brides for our boys despite having sizeable property in the heart of Chennai as most of them fear the land will be acquired by the government,” he said during the hearing, which was attended by Kancheepuram Collector P Ponniah.
Seeking an assurance that their lands would be not be acquired for the project, he also highlighted that Cowl Bazaar had been ignored by officials as most of their civic issues remain unaddressed.J C Arul Dhas, general secretary, Federation of Pozhichalur Welfare Association, which represents 15 welfare associations, opposed any move to acquire land from Pozhichalur for airport expansion.
Seeking an assurance that their lands will not be acquired for the airport, he said Chennai airport expansion has been making rounds for more than a decade.
The Collector said they will not be taking over any land in Pozhichalur for airport expansion. He said 50 acres are being acquired from Manapakkam, 30 acres from Kolapakkam and 2.98 acres from Cowl Bazaar.Interestingly, the focus was more on civic issues rather than on airport modernisation with people highlighting the need to have proper drainage and solid waste management.