CHENNAI: TN Industrial Development Corporation Limited (Tidco) has refused to share pre-feasibility report of the proposed greenfield airport in Parandur near Chennai under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005.
Replying to an RTI application filed by activist Satheesh, Tidco said, “The information sought is exempted from disclosure under section 8(1)(a) of RTI Act.” It has also refused to share a copy of the application filed to get ‘site clearance’ to develop the airport.
The union ministry of civil aviation had transferred the RTI application to the DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation), which, in turn, transferred the RTI application to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Tidco.
Tidco chairman S Krishnan didn’t respond to an e-mail sent by TNIE. People from villages that may be affected by the proposed airport, who are protesting for the past 120 days, have been demanding that the government make the pre-feasibility report public.
SD Kathiresan, a protester, said, “When AIADMK was in power, four possible sites—Pannur, Parandur, Tiruporur and Padalam—were shortlisted. Soil testing was done and the results indicated Parandur was not suitable for building the airport. That apart, the land earmarked for the airport comprises mostly fertile agriculture land and waterbodies. Only the pre-feasibility report will throw some light on whether socio-economic factors and environmental assessment was done correctly.”
Amit Kumar Jha, under secretary, ministry of civil aviation, said Tidco has sent the application for grant of ‘site clearance’ approval for setting up of a greenfield airport at Parandur as per Greenfield Airports Policy. “It’s a two-stage process of approval—site clearance followed by in-principle nod. No such approval has been conveyed yet by the civil aviation ministry,” Jha said in response to the RTI query.
Recently, environmental advocacy group Poovulagin Nanbargal released a seven-page report stating that around 1,317 acres of land of 4,563.56 acres to be acquired for Parandur airport are classified as porambokku (wasteland). Out of this, nearly 955 acres are covered by lakes, ponds and small waterbodies. The remaining 390 acres are grazing land. If the proposed airport is built, it will obstruct the flow of the 43 kilometre-long Kamban canal that fills nearly 85 lakes before emptying into the Sriperumbudur lake.