CPI(M) welcomes announcement on dropping Parandur airport project, says Shanmugam
CPI(M) leader P. Shanmugam has welcomed the Tamil Nadu government's decision to cancel the Parandur airport project due to environmental concerns. He also urged the Chief Minister to address the ongoing Cauvery water dispute with Karnataka and provide compensation to farmers affected by water shortages.
Why it matters
The cancellation of a major infrastructure project highlights the growing influence of environmental activism and local farmer protests on state development policy in India.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) State secretary P. Shanmugam on Monday welcomed Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay’s announcement in the Assembly that the Parandur airport project would be dropped.
Speaking to journalists at Mayiladuthurai, Mr. Shanmugam said the proposed airport project would have destroyed 13 lakes and over 3,000 acres of wetlands in that area. People and farmers of Parandur had been consistently staging protests against the airport project.
“The CPI(M) welcomes the scrapping of the project and the announcement that an alternative site would be chosen for the new airport. The views of the general public of the area concerned should be ascertained while selecting the alternative site,” Mr. Shanmugam said, adding that lands acquired for the proposed airport project should be handed over to the farmers.
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