Govindaraj Janardhanan is struggling to find words to describe his relief. A farmer from Ekanapuram village near Kancheepuram in Tamil Nadu, who also works part-time at a private firm, Janardhanan is happy that the Tamil Nadu government has paused the Parandur airport project and may even drop it altogether. “This decision will save our village and agricultural lands from being destroyed,” he says.
On May 4, when the results of the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections were announced and actor-turned-politician C. Joseph Vijay was elected as the new Chief Minister, a wave of excitement spread across many parts of the State.
For Ekanapuram, largely made up of agricultural lands, wetlands, and small-scale farms, the moment was significant. The village had been at the centre of a massive farmers’ movement against the proposed ₹27,400 crore greenfield airport project at Parandur. Planned as Chennai’s second airport, the project involved the acquisition of more than 5,300 acres from more than 13 villages in and around Parandur. As per the proposal, Ekanapuram was to fall within both runways of the airport.
Six months before coming to power, Vijay had visited the protesting villagers and extended his support to their cause, which had been ongoing since 2022.
Today, the village, located nearly 50 kilometres from the existing Chennai airport at Meenambakkam, is cautiously optimistic. While the State Minister for Energy Resources and Law, R. Nirmalkumar, said that the State government would drop the Parandur airport project and look for alternative sites, a stance reiterated by the Industries Minister, S. Keerthana, an official announcement or a Government Order is still awaited in this regard. For industry representatives and several travellers, however, the government’s decision has come as a disappointment.
Relief in Ekanapuram
The airport project faced strong opposition from the residents of Ekanapuram, who feared displacement, the loss of agricultural land, and environmental damage, particularly its possible impact on local water bodies. In the project area, 26.54% comprises wetlands, according to Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation, the nodal agency executing the airport project.
“We were shattered when the announcement to build the airport was made in 2022,” says G. Subramanian, Secretary of the Parandur Airport Opposition Joint Movement, a coalition of villagers, farmers, and environmentalists. “After protesting for nearly 1,000 days, we are glad that the government is going to drop the project now.”
Subramanian explains that the project site is full of water bodies. “Nelvoy lake and water bodies including Vayaleri, Kadaperi, and Kalieri would have been affected. The path of the Kamban canal passing through the project area too would have been obstructed,” he says.
Filling up water bodies with concrete and urbanising the area would not only destroy these villages but could also have wider consequences for Chennai, which has experienced flooding on several occasions during the monsoon season, he says. “The city may witness a disaster if this project is implemented,” Subramanian says.
He is quick to clarify that the residents of the village are not opposed to development, but only want the government to pick a better location for the project. “We are not opposing a second airport for the city. We are only asking the government to look for other options,” he says.
Farmers of Ekanapuram village during their protest against the greenfield airport project at Parandur.
| Photo Credit:
Velankanni Raj B.
Villages in a limbo
After the airport project was announced in 2022, the protests continued even as the State government proceeded with the application process for various approvals. The project subsequently received site clearance and in-principle approval.
Land acquisition for the project commenced in July 2025. The government, however, avoided acquiring land in Ekanapuram and began registrations in the surrounding villages. So far, nearly 1,700 acres have been acquired from villages including Nelvoy, Nagapattu, Thandalam, Podavur, Valathur, and Akkamapuram.
While Ekanapuram is unaffected, the residents of the other villages who were forced to sell their lands worry about their livelihood and the uncertainty that lies ahead. They wonder if the government will return their lands.
K. Murugan, a resident of Nagapattu, who was compelled to give up his farmland, says he is now living off the money that the government gave as compensation. “We were left with no choice, so we parted with our farmlands,” he says. “Now, we hear that the government plans to drop the project. But there is no clarity since there has been no official announcement yet.”
Murugan says the situation has left the villagers frustrated. “Now that the government has taken away our land, they should execute the project and shift us to the nearby Karai village. That way, we can find a job. Access to transport too will become easier,” he adds.
D. Shanmugham, another resident of the village, gave one acre of his land for the project. He believes that the government should return the lands to the farmers if they don’t plan to go ahead with the project. “Our street lights have not been repaired. Our drains are still blocked. When we raise these issues with the local authorities, they don’t rectify the issue claiming that it is an airport site and that the residents will be shifted soon anyway,” he says.
Residents also say they have not been able to rebuild or repair their houses. Those living near the proposed airport site continue to struggle with leakages and other structural problems in their houses. As Shanmugham says, “Why would we want to take a risk and spend money repairing a house or rebuilding a house without knowing if we will even have a life here in this village?”
In some households, these structural problems have even affected marriage prospects, with families losing out on potential matches because of the condition of their houses.
D. Devaki Ammal, a resident of Nagapattu who lives in a single-room house, says her family has been looking for a suitable match for her granddaughter for a while now. “Families who come to visit us are unhappy with the state of the house. If I tell them that we may get a new house when the airport comes up, or we may renovate this one, they look unconvinced. My daughter and I are distressed over the problems this project has caused,” she says.
Devaki says the authorities could consider moving them to a new, permanent site. “That will do us a lot of good. Some of these issues will be resolved,” she says.
Some residents who took the risk of building houses say they do not expect to live in them for more than a few years, given the lack of clarity surrounding the project. S. Prema, a resident of Nelvoy, says residents are exasperated. Unaware of what is going to happen next, they have not even built toilets. “They are scared to invest money fearing it will be a waste,” she says. “But my husband and I took the decision to reconstruct a house because the existing one had too many problems. Sometimes, snakes would enter the house through crevices. We decided to rebuild it for the safety of our children.”
But Prema says the family is not able to set up the house as they wish. “If I like something which I know will look good in my house, I don’t buy it because I am not sure how long we will stay here,” she says.
Maintenance issues in Chennai
While the villages around the site are divided, aviation experts, industry representatives, and frequent travellers in Chennai are disappointed that the project has been paused and worry that it could be dropped altogether. Though Chennai airport has not reached its maximum capacity yet, many air passengers feel that the city requires a bigger, swankier airport with better maintenance and improved flight connectivity.
Watch | Tamil Nadu government to look for new airport site instead of Parandur
A. Sankar, a frequent traveller in Chennai, says passengers like him are unhappy about the many issues in the Meenambakkam airport, whether it is the maintenance of the airport or the difficulty in getting a cab. “Airports in other metro cities offer so much more in terms of experience. Passengers have many options to dine and shop. Time just flies by before boarding. I can’t say the same about the airport here. When the authorities can’t even open a cab boarding point on time, it’s only natural for passengers to feel frustrated.” He says passengers have waited for a long time for a second airport, and changing the site yet again will only affect them further.
Karthik K., another traveller, says the connectivity that other metro airports offer is far better than that of Chennai. “Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Delhi have direct flights to more domestic and international destinations than Chennai,” he says.
An aviation expert says Chennai missed the opportunity for aviation-led development two decades ago when a second airport for the city was proposed at Sriperumbudur. That project did not take off, and the existing Chennai airport was modernised.
“The city has too much at stake in terms of air connectivity, industrial growth, and investment opportunities. It cannot afford to let this opportunity slip away yet again,” he says.
He says the process to choose a site for the second airport commenced once again more than seven years ago. Initially, 11 sites were examined in all. Of them, four were shortlisted — Thiruporur, Padalam, Pannur, and Parandur. “The Airports Authority of India (AAI) inspected all the four sites and said an airport could be built either at Pannur or Parandur, pointing out the advantages and disadvantages of both. Parandur was finally chosen since there were fewer families to be relocated there,” he says.
A source in the State government believes that any site spanning several thousand acres is bound to have its own set of challenges. “It is nearly impossible to find a site without water bodies in Chennai’s vicinity. There are ways to mitigate issues. A hydrological study was already conducted by a team of experts and was submitted to the government in 2024.”
The aviation expert also notes that it is not easy to find a site for an airport. “This is not like building a railway or a bus terminal. Several factors have to be considered including obstacles, airspace availability, wind pattern, no fly zones in the region, and proximity to a defence site or another airport,” he explains.
He says if the government decides to drop the proposal to build the airport at Parandur, Pannur is the only alternative for now. “But then, passengers will have to wait another eight or nine years because the government will have to yet again receive all the approvals and complete construction. Politicians come and go, but it is the passengers who suffer at the end of the day,” he adds.
The importance of an airport
Industry representatives say airports are no longer just transit points; they have evolved into economic anchors that attract investments and drive large-scale commercial, business, and residential development. They add that when companies consider investing in a city, the quality of its airport and cargo infrastructure is a key factor in their decision-making.
Ganapathi Ramachandran, entrepreneur and board member of The Southern India Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI), says it is evident that a modern, state-of-the-art airport with strong connectivity is crucial for attracting investments in business parks, logistics hubs, hospitality, the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) sector and tourism, and is vital for the State’s development. Tamil Nadu should expedite the implementation of the Parandur airport project or, at the very least, pursue an alternative option and implement it soon, he says. He believes that any further delay will only prove costly for the State’s development.
“The youth of today are different,” Ramachandran explains. “With every passing decade, they have a new demand. Tamil Nadu, with its advantages such as a large talent pool, can attract major companies and benefit from robust aviation infrastructure and improvements in social infrastructure. Unless a city is vibrant in every aspect, it will be difficult to attract and retain young talent,” he says.
V.N. Shivashankar, senior vice-president of SICCI, says Bengaluru and Hyderabad have witnessed a remarkable transformation over the past decade, with new modern airports playing a significant role. “The city expands significantly; better roads and infrastructure come up around the airport zone, and areas that were previously less popular begin to thrive,” he says.
Bengaluru, he says, is a perfect example of this trend — it created an entirely new ecosystem, attracted more firms to set up offices, and generated new opportunities for the State.
He adds, “Chennai cannot afford to lose out on the second airport project, especially after coming this far in terms of clearances and land acquisition.”
