CHENNAI: Police were deployed in strength on roads leading to Ekanapuram village as protests against the proposed second airport in Parandur entered 200th day on Saturday. SD Kathiresan, who is leading the anti-airport protests, said police permission was obtained to hold a special meeting at 10 am in Ekanapuram but police tried to curtail the movement of protesters by preventing farmers from other villages, who are likely to be affected by the airport project, from reaching the venue.
M Vetriselvan, an advocate associated with the environmental organisation, Poovulagin Nanbargal, and legislator T Velumurugan of Tamizhaga Vazhvurimai Katchi (TVK), who were supposed to address the meeting, were stopped at Sriperumbudur tollgate. While Vetriselvan was taken into preventive custody, the MLA was allowed to enter the village after some time. Vetriselvan told The New Indian Express that police acted in an extra-judicial manner.
A senior police officer said 2,500 police personnel were deployed to prevent law and order issues.
“The activists were apprehended as we suspected that their arrival would create law and order issues. Those detained were released later,” the police officer said.
Environmental group Poovulagin Nanbargal has been spearheading the protest against the airport project ever since the site was finalised. It released a seven-page report stating that 1,317 acres of the 4,563.56 acres to be acquired for Parandur airport are classified as porambokku (wasteland). Of this, nearly 955 acres are lakes, ponds and small waterbodies. The remaining 390 acres are grazing land. If the proposed airport is built, it will obstruct the flow of 43 km-long Kamban Canal which fills nearly 85 lakes before emptying into the Sriperumbudur Lake. The obstruction of the canal will have wider ramifications as nearly 22,235 acres of farmland are served by the canal, the report said.
In December, during the monsoon, this reporter visited the proposed site and found 60% of it flooded with overflowing water streams. In an open letter addressed to Tamil Nadu State Disaster Management Authority, a group of concerned citizens and environmentalists, including Mohan Ranganathan, an aviation safety consultant who was part of the Airport Authority of India (AAI) inspection team for Parandur in 2008, had called the proposed airport project “a recipe for disaster”.
The letter said as per a study conducted by the Interdisciplinary Centre for Water Research at the Indian Institute of Science, water released from Chembarambakkam reservoir was only 800 cumecs (m3/s), whereas “the flood flow from the parallel catchment flowing from Manimangalam, Perungalathur and Tambaram may have contributed as much as 3,000 m3/s. Together, the flood at its peak when it entered the city has been estimated to be about 3,800 m3/s (1,34,195 cusecs), whereas the flood carrying capacity of the Adyar river is only about 2,038 m3/s (72,000 cusecs)”. The report was part of the CAG report on the Chennai floods.
“About 7-km of Kamban Canal falls inside the proposed airport site. Farmers don’t use water pumps here. They are purely dependent on water from lakes filled by the canal. Thousands of acres are being cultivated through this method,” Kathiresan said.
S Krishnan, additional chief secretary, the industries department, had told The New Indian Express, “Yes, a part of Kamban Canal, about 7 km, falls within the proposed airport area. A detailed hydrological study will be conducted. A committee is looking at all these aspects. All the views will be accounted for before taking any decision. We understand the need to strike a balance while designing and developing any project.”
The state government, meanwhile, has extended time for receiving bids for the second time to appoint a consultant for carrying out a detailed techno-economic report for building the airport. Bids scheduled to open on February 13 have been extended till end of the month. Union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia recently said the centre and the state are committed to building the airport at Parandur.