Residents seek political support to protest against airport expansion

Staff Reporter

Rally to be taken out from Pozhichalur on December 7



TAMBARAM: Residents of Pozhichalur and nearby areas, who have been protesting the land acquisition scheme for the proposed Chennai airport modernisation, will be meeting top leaders of political parties in the State seeking support.

This was decided after a meeting of associations of residents, traders associations and the Struggle Committee at Anakaputhur on Sunday. Representatives of political parties and the associations took part in the meeting, where all of them pledged to continue their struggle against the land acquisition and the silence of the authorities, both Central and State, on the project. Sticking to their stand on Sunday, the speakers and participants agreed that expansion and modernisation was needed, but reiterated that this should be carried out in vacant areas earmarked in the original plan prepared by the State government, where there was no mention of Pozhichalur, Anakaputhur, Pammal or even land coming under the St. Thomas Mount cum Pallavaram Cantonment Board. Better still, a greenfield airport in the vast open spaces in the city fringes could be created.

The residents planned to take out a massive rally from Pozhichalur and nearby areas on December 7 and meet the Chief Minister the same day. Meanwhile, they would also be meeting top leaders of all the major political parties to seek their support. If it did not succeed, they would stage a series of agitations and protests, speakers said.

Employees of the Airports Authority of India have been staging nation-wide protests against privatisation of airport modernisation and they too had extended their support to residents, the speakers said. The Airports Authority Employees' Joint Forum said they would be stating a three-day convention near the Chennai airport from December 27 and residents of Pozhichalur too would be taking part in it, a representative of the Forum said.

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Political representatives skip all-party meeting
Monday November 27 2006 09:25 IST

CHENNAI: The much expected all-party meeting at Anakaputhur on Sunday, opposing expansion of the Chennai airport in residential colonies, turned out to be a damp squib, with only a few political representatives participating. The meeting was organised by the Struggle Committee Against Expansion in Cowl Bazaar, Anakaputhur and Pozhichalur.

Though organisers had invited representatives from all three aforesaid areas, only a handful of them turned up. DMK and Congress members made a fleeting visit and wanted to leave early to attend another meeting organised by local MP and Union Minister T R Baalu.

The members, normally used to giving long and prepared speeches, kept their impromptu talk to the bare details.

While one of them admitted it was a ‘grave situation and a great loss for residents’ and requested the State to look into the issue in a humanitarian way, another DMK member reiterated Chief Minister M Karunanidhi’s assurance that the expansion would be carried out without affecting the people.

Velayudam, an AIADMK representative, said his party was for the expansion, but it should be carried out as per the earlier plan, which sought to use vast tracts of vacant land.

Bhoopalan, from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) proudly proclaimed that Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel was from their party and said he would be informed on the plight of the people if the project were implemented in its present form.

BJP district secretary I R Desikan stressed for unity among residents to see that the plan was shelved like that of the satellite city, where the PMK lead the agitation.

The list of speakers from political parties ended with these though many more were expected, as functionaries of all major parties from the three areas had been invited.

Former president of the Polichalur Panchayat, Gnanamani, one of the most expected high-profile speakers, failed to turn up though he had reportedly promised to participate.

It may be noted that the controversy over the airport expansion project had broken out during his chairmanship and the elected body was even criticised for its continued silence over the issue.

However, the new body, headed by his wife Varadammal, had passed a resolution recently, ‘‘condemning the irregularities in designing the proposal, where residential areas were included’’.

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New airport: decision will depend on feasibility report

T.S. Shankar

Government has planned a series of meetings to firm up a decision

CHENNAI: Will Chennai go the Bangalore and Hyderabad way to have a Greenfield Airport? Or will the Tamil Nadu Government opt for certain re-alignment of the "operational area" of the existing airport to have a main parallel runway and other logistic facilities to meet the surge in the passenger traffic and aircraft movements?

The answer to these queries will emerge only after the "technical feasibility report" is prepared by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), Chennai, and the Headquarters in New Delhi.

While official sources in the State Government admitted that Tamil Nadu was lagging in the construction of a new international airport with access facilities, the Government's line of thinking on the infrastructure would be known in the next two weeks with a series of meetings planned.

And the first meeting is scheduled on Monday Srivatsava, a Joint Secretary in the Union Civil Aviation Ministry, and AAI Member (Operations) P. Seth. Chief Secretary L.K. Tripathy will chair the meeting.

Blueprint not ready

After holding a series of meetings with the AAI in Chennai, the State Government is yet to firm up a blueprint for the proposed international airport project.

The Government, which was toying with the idea of a parallel runway has also encountered trouble, with the AAI pointing out that a canal was running between.

"The State is yet to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the AAI for expediting the project," a highly placed Civil Aviation Ministry source said.

Pressure mounted

Two Union Ministers T.R. Baalu and Dayanidhi Maran and Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi have been stepping up pressure on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Praful Patel to include the Chennai airport under the AAI's modernisation programme.

During his visit to Chennai on November 5, the Prime Minister had announced that the Centre would soon begin work on the modernisation of the Chennai airport.

Land allotted

The Jayalalithaa Government had issued a Government Order allotting 1457.5 acres for a new international airport on the north-western side of the existing airport.

The AIADMK Government had planned to make available the land, worth Rs. 300 crore, free from encumbrance and of cost.

This new initiative was based on a study conducted by a United Kingdom-based consultant, which had recommended the construction of a new world-class airport.

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Sunday’s all-party meeting promises action
Friday November 24 2006 10:14 IST

CHENNAI: Amidst assurances from Chief Minister M Karunanidhi that the proposed airport expansion will be carried out without affecting any section of the people concerned, a scheduled all-party meeting at Pozhichalur against acquisition of land in residential colonies, promises to be a show-stealer.

The meeting is scheduled at Anakaputhur for November 26 (Sunday) and the organisers of the meeting, the Struggle Committee, set up against the expansion in residential colonies, have invited all major parties, the DMK, AIADMK, PMK, BJP and the DMDK.

And, if one goes by their words, the meeting will witness the participation of members from each party from Cowl Bazaar, Pozhichalur and Anakaputhur, the areas which have been in the centre of the issue ever since the expansion proposal was made.

B Kumar, secretary of the committee, told this website’s newspaper on Thursday that the assurances from political representatives on their participation was a healthy indicator.

“The mere event would send the right signal,” he said, while adding that so far, there has been no coordination between parties in this issue.

The future course of action post the all-party meeting is interesting. The Struggle Committee plans to take out a procession and meet the Chief Minister in the first week of December and submit the resolutions that will be passed in the meeting on Sunday.

“We plan to stage a sit-in protest in front of the Secretariat should our voices not be heard on that day,” Kumar said.

Interestingly, one of the expected high-profile participants will be Gnanamani, former president of the Pozhichalur Panchayat. It may be recalled that he created a flutter during an earlier protest meeting when he snapped the connection of the microphone even while a speaker was airing his views.

Sources then said Gnanamani, a DMK-man, had expressed disapproval when residents rebuked the elected body’s silence over the issue.

In fact, residents were also skeptical about a resolution passed by the Panchayat on Wednesday, “condemning the irregularities in designing the proposal (where residential areas were included)”.

“The elected body has swung into action too late and we believe it is only a counter to the all-party meeting scheduled for Sunday,” a resident said.


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Resolution flaying irregularities passed
Thursday November 23 2006 09:58 IST

CHENNAI: The Pozhichalur Panchayat on Wednesday passed a resolution condemning irregularities in including land required for the proposed expansion of the Chennai Airport.

In an emergency meeting called here on Wednesday, the elected body passed the resolution condemning residential areas being included in the proposal, a release said.

On Monday, a high-level meeting between officials of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the State Government was held in the city, where important issues, including modernisation of the airport and rehabilitation of residents was discussed.

G Varadammal, chairperson of the Panchayat, presided over the meeting and the resolution stated that residential colonies in Pammal, Pozhichalur and Anakaputhur, had been wrongly drafted into the proposal.

Another resolution demanding immediate attention of Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, Local Administration Minister M K Stalin and Tambaram MLA S R Raja to redress the grievance of people was also passed.


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Pozhichalur panchayat resists land acquisition

Staff Reporter

TAMBARAM : The Pozhichalur Village Panchayat, at an urgent meeting of its ward members on Wednesday, asked the Central and State governments to protect the interests of Pozhichalur residents while acquiring land for the proposed Chennai Airport expansion.

The members criticised the manner in which Pozhichalur, Pammal and Anakaputhur were included for the proposed expansion plans, when they did not figure in the proposed list when the original airport expansion plan was drawn up.

The panchayat members said they welcomed the airport modernisation and expansion, but the expansion should be carried out in the hundreds of acres of vacant land available adjacent to the existing airport in line with the original plan of May 2005.

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Meeting discusses airport expansion plan

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: A high-level meeting held here on Monday apprised K.N. Srivatsava, Joint Secretary in the Union Civil Aviation Ministry, of the urgent need for expanding the Chennai airport and exploring the possibility of having a green field airport.

The 30-minute meeting was chaired by Chief Secretary L.K. Tripathy.

The Joint Secretary was informed about the possible displacement of people at Cowl Bazaar and Pozhichalur on account of the expansion. Since the matter was pending before court, the State Government wanted the Airports Authority of India, Chennai, to find ways and means of re-aligning the expansion of the airport at the Pallavaram end of the main runway.

The meeting also considered alternative sites for further expansion of the airport, and for the green field airport.

A technical committee of senior officials of the AAI Planning Wing, New Delhi, and Operations, Chennai, is being set up to assist the State in providing technical guidance for putting the expansion project on the "fast track mode".

P. Seth, Member (Operations), AAI, New Delhi; Dinesh Kumar, Chennai Airport Director; K. Ramalingam, Southern Regional Executive Director of AAI, Chennai; and State Transport Secretary Debendranath Sarangi attended the meeting.

Later, Mr. Srivatsava visited the Air Traffic Services complex situated near the Chennai airport.

LINK

New airport: decision will depend on feasibility report

T.S. Shankar

Government has planned a series of meetings to firm up a decision

CHENNAI: Will Chennai go the Bangalore and Hyderabad way to have a Greenfield Airport? Or will the Tamil Nadu Government opt for certain re-alignment of the "operational area" of the existing airport to have a main parallel runway and other logistic facilities to meet the surge in the passenger traffic and aircraft movements?

The answer to these queries will emerge only after the "technical feasibility report" is prepared by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), Chennai, and the Headquarters in New Delhi.

While official sources in the State Government admitted that Tamil Nadu was lagging in the construction of a new international airport with access facilities, the Government's line of thinking on the infrastructure would be known in the next two weeks with a series of meetings planned.

And the first meeting is scheduled on Monday Srivatsava, a Joint Secretary in the Union Civil Aviation Ministry, and AAI Member (Operations) P. Seth. Chief Secretary L.K. Tripathy will chair the meeting.

Blueprint not ready

After holding a series of meetings with the AAI in Chennai, the State Government is yet to firm up a blueprint for the proposed international airport project.

The Government, which was toying with the idea of a parallel runway has also encountered trouble, with the AAI pointing out that a canal was running between.

"The State is yet to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the AAI for expediting the project," a highly placed Civil Aviation Ministry source said.

Pressure mounted

Two Union Ministers T.R. Baalu and Dayanidhi Maran and Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi have been stepping up pressure on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Praful Patel to include the Chennai airport under the AAI's modernisation programme.

During his visit to Chennai on November 5, the Prime Minister had announced that the Centre would soon begin work on the modernisation of the Chennai airport.

Land allotted

The Jayalalithaa Government had issued a Government Order allotting 1457.5 acres for a new international airport on the north-western side of the existing airport.

The AIADMK Government had planned to make available the land, worth Rs. 300 crore, free from encumbrance and of cost.

This new initiative was based on a study conducted by a United Kingdom-based consultant, which had recommended the construction of a new world-class airport.

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Chennai Airport expansion project

Top officials in city on secret mission

NT Bureau
Chennai, Nov 12:
Close on the heels of the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh's recent assertion that Chennai International Airport expansion work would begin soon, senior officials from New Delhi are in the city to assess, analyse and prepare a final blueprint to quicken the expansion project.

Informed sources today said that the officials are in a covert mission because of the stiff opposition from people who would be hit by the proposed expansion project.

The preliminary works are said to be already underway for the expansion cum upgradation project of the city airport.

The Chennai Airport expansion project kicked up a lot of political mudslinging and strong opposition from people of Pallavaram, Kaul Bazaar, Pozhichalur, Pammal and Anakaputhur as they would have to be evacuated for the project.More than 10,000 houses, 14 higher secondary schools, 26 places of worship and scores of buildings belonging to commercial establishments are there in these areas and these would have to be razed down to facilitate the expansion under the original proposal.

However, in the wake of rising opposition, the incumbent DMK government reiterated that the scheme would be remodelled so as not to displace the tens of thousands of families in the southern suburbs.

An alternate site measuring about 1467 acres on the northern side of the airport has also been identified for the purpose.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister who was here recently to inaugurate the National Automotive Research Centre stated that work would begin soon for the city's airport expansion project.

As a sequel, PA Sharma and Subash Chand were deputed on behalf of the Airport Authority of India (AAI) and Civil Aviation department to analyse all the aspects (including technicalities like number of runways, location of air traffic control tower and other buildings) and report before 3 December, informed sources said.

The officials have also been provided with a team of staff to assist them in carrying out the preparatory works in the city, sources added.

The Chennai airport's upgradation on par with world-class international airports was a long felt need in view of burgeoning passenger and cargo traffic year after year.

The decades-old current infrastructure was felt to be inadequate and unsuitable to handle increasing passenger and cargo traffic, besides building a better security net in and around the airport area.




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Chennai airport expansion

No more home sweet home

NT Bureau
Chennai, Nov 6:

However mixed was the reaction to the plan on expansion of the Chennai airport, the government has gone ahead with the work and it is expected to kick off from 30 November. All preparatory works have commenced to bring domestic and international airports under one roof.

Sources say as a result of the project, over 10,000 houses, 14 high schools and 26 places of worship at Kowl Bazaar, Pammal, Anakaputhur and Pozhichalur would be brought down.

The air traffic at the Chennai airport has considerably risen. Hence a need to expand the airport was felt. The Central government decided to acquire land in areas such as Kowl Bazaar, Pozhichalur, Pammal and Anakaputhur for the expansion purpose.

Residents of the areas were up in arms and protested the decision to acquire their lands. They even organised human chain protests and fast condemning the Centre�s decision.

It may be recalled that the then Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa assured the Centre of providing 1,467 acres of land which would not affect the residential colonies around the Chennai airport. However post-Assembly election, things changed with DMK assuming power in the State.

In fact, while taking part in a function at Sriperumbudur last week, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh announced that the Chennai airport expansion project would commence soon.

Sources say a detailed report with map has been prepared by the authorities for implementing the project and work is to commence beginning 30 November.

Also, plans were on to conduct a Bhoomi Pooja before the beginning of Tamil month Margazhi. Also, reports indicate tenders would be floated for the project within three months.

The Centre would identify the area for construction for the airport and acquire lands and it is the role of the private firm to complete the construction.

It may be noted that an airport was constructed at Nedumancherry in Kerala with private-public co-operation.

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