TN BJP chief accuses Vijay govt of stalling Parandur airport project

Chennai, July 9 (IANS) Tamil Nadu BJP president Nainar Nagendran has accused the ruling TVK government, led by Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay, of deliberately delaying the proposed Parandur Greenfield Airport project and jeopardising the state’s economic growth and employment opportunities.

In a post on X, Nagendran strongly criticised Industries Minister Nirmal Kumar, alleging that the minister had made “false claims” about the feasibility of the project and was misleading the public.

According to Nagendran, the Union Civil Aviation Ministry granted official in-principle approval for the Parandur airport project only after carrying out extensive technical and environmental studies. He said the minister’s recent claim that a runway could not be constructed at the site was contrary to the findings of those studies.

The BJP leader asserted that the Airports Authority of India (AAI), in coordination with the Ministry of Defence, had conducted detailed assessments before approving the project.

He said these studies had specifically taken into account the presence of water bodies in the proposed airport area and had concluded that the project was technically feasible.

Nagendran further claimed that expert engineering teams had already recommended solutions that would allow the protection of water bodies while simultaneously enabling the construction of airport infrastructure, including the runway.

Questioning the state government’s stand, he asked why a “new technical obstacle” was now being projected after the project had already received technical clearance from the Centre. “Is this really a technical issue, or is the government sacrificing Tamil Nadu’s development for cheap vote-bank politics?” he asked in the social media post.

Nagendran also argued that Chennai International Airport had very limited scope for further expansion because of space constraints, making the development of a second international airport essential for the state’s long-term economic growth.

He warned that any further delay in implementing the Parandur airport project could result in Tamil Nadu losing valuable international trade and investment opportunities, besides affecting future employment generation for the state’s youth.

Urging the state government to reconsider its position, the BJP leader said the Centre was prepared to extend full cooperation for the timely execution of the Parandur Greenfield Airport project and called on the Tamil Nadu government to move forward with the project without further delay.

–IANS

aal/dpb