Hundreds of local people, who are waging an intense battle against the proposed feeder airport in Wayanad, on Wednesday burnt the brochure distributed by the State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) enlisting the ‘advantages’ of having an airport in the area.
The four-page multi-colour leaflet, which promises that the airport would help Wayanad elevate itself to the position of Holland or Switzerland, has invited the wrath of local people, mostly farmers. As per the leaflet, the district would get an opportunity to play host to international leaders a la Davos. Also, it claims that the farmers in the district would find a saviour in the tulip, a flower which normally grows in freezing temperature, if the proposed airport comes into existence. However, the state horticulture mission officials have already made it clear that tulip cultivation in Wayanad is quite impossible.
“A business group with vested interests has been trying to set up an airport here at the cost of the environment. The group, which operates a multi-specialty hospital in the district, is now hell-bent to tap the medical tourism potential of Wayanad,” said Wayanad Prakruthi Samrakshana Samithi secretary Thomas Ambalavayal.
“It’s going to be a do-or-die battle for us. The project would wipe about 500 acres of paddy field off the map. Cheekalloor is one of the largest paddy clusters in the district which contributes a major chunk of the rice produced here,” said Muraleedharan M S, executive committee member of the Cheekkalloor-Eranelloor-Mechery Krishibhoomi Samrakshana Samiti.
“The brochure claims that the paddy fields in this area are lying uncultivated. It’s a blatant lie. The records available with the Krishi Bhavans in the area would bear testimony to the large-scale paddy production here. Of the total 2,000 tonnes of paddy procured in the district last year, we had contributed over 526 tonnes,” said samiti president E N Gopalakrishnan.
Notably, the state biodiversity board (KSSB) had raised its objection against setting up airports in eco-sensitive areas such as Wayanad. An official at the call centre opened by the KSIDC to clear people’s apprehensions over the airport said the techno-economic feasibility study on the project is still on.