CHENNAI: After a minister vowed that the state would not go ahead with the proposed greenfield airport at Parandur, the villagers of Ekanapuram – a settlement that faced extensive acquisition (land takeover) for the project – have passed a resolution to rename their main road ‘Thalapathi Vijay Road’ as an expression of gratitude to Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay.
The decision was taken unanimously at a grama sabha on Saturday, marking a striking turn in a three-year-old resistance to the airport project, which residents said threatened their homes, multi-crop farmland and local waterbodies.
G Subramanian, secretary of the Ekanapuram Village People and Farmers Welfare Board, said after the G.O cancelling the project, the road will be renamed. “We are waiting for the G.O,” he said.
Ekanapuram, the largest village affected by the proposed Parandur airport, with around 2,500 residents lay directly in the planned runway alignment. The project would therefore have required the relocation of the settlement itself, rather than merely the acquisition of surrounding farmland.
Vijay’s opposition to the Parandur site had been a prominent part of his political campaign. His first major field protest after entering politics was against the project (January 20, 2025). While he maintained that he was not opposed to a second airport for Chennai, he objected to its proposed location, arguing that it would displace villages and damage ecologically sensitive agricultural land.
Energy Resources and Law Minister CTR Nirmal Kumar announced (June 19, 2026) that the government would not proceed with the Parandur site and would instead identify an alternative location. No formal G.O. cancelling the Parandur project has been issued so far. But the minister’s announcement has effectively halted further progress on land acquisition and related planning, giving residents who had opposed the project a significant political victory.
The gram sabha resolution said the state had “adopted as policy” the decision to drop the Parandur site and had begun taking steps accordingly.
