A 60-year-old farmer from Nelvoy village on Tuesday attempted to self-immolate in an act of resistance against the Tamil Nadu government authorities inspecting land earmarked for the proposed Chennai Greenfield Airport at Parandur.
On November 5, government authorities visited Nelvoy village for land inspection. Although villagers resisted the entry of the officials, land inspection proceeded as planned.
Around 4 pm, officials approached the residence of 60-year-old Kasthuri who was alone. Despite asking the officials to leave multiple times, they proceeded with the land inspection.
Frustrated by the officials' dismissal of her requests, Kasthuri doused herself with kerosene when three women police officers intervened.
Officials left the village soon after the incident; over 50% of the village land is yet to be surveyed and documented.
Villagers said the officials have not returned to complete the inspection, three days after the incident.
Talking to TNIE on Saturday, G Subramanian, Secretary of the Villagers Against Parandur Airport Movement, said that the government is determined to develop the airport even at the cost of people's welfare and the environment.
"The recent High Court and Supreme Court rulings are in favour of the people. On Tuesday, the SC ruled that the State cannot take over private property solely under the pretext of serving the common good. Last month, the Madras HC ruled that encroachments on water bodies must be removed even if the structures dated back to the Chozha period during suo moto proceedings regarding encroachments on Koladi lake, Thiruverkadu. The Madurai HC had also ruled against construction over water bodies, even if done under the guise of public interest," said Subramanian.
"The TN government is unwilling to drop the airport project despite all these legal provisions protecting the people," he said.
The airport project
The Parandur airport, which is going to be the second airport in Chennai, will be built upon 1963.17 hectares of fertile irrigated lands (1031.21 ha of wet agricultural land, 355.22 ha of dry agricultural land, and 576.74 ha of water bodies), 173 ha of government land and 36.56 ha of developed land.
Nelvoy is one of the twenty villages to be affected by the airport project. Villagers have continuously resisted the TN government's attempts to acquire and develop the land for the airport. On Tuesday, ten protestors from Nelvoy were arrested and, on Wednesday, FIRs were filed against them by the Ponnerikarai police, for resisting the entry of officials.