MK's assurance on airport expansion project

Chennai, Mar 11 (UNI) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi today categorically stated the government will not acquire for the proposed expansion of the Chennai Airport the land on which the poor and downtrodden had been living.

In a statement here, Mr Karunanidhi said ''under any circumstance, the government would not acquire lands in Polichalur, Anagaputhur, Pammal and its surrounding areas where a large number of poor and downtrodden were living. The government had not taken any final decision on the project.'' For any project, the government will choose land in a manner the poor living in the area were not affected, he added.

Referring to a report in a newspaper on Centre's reported move to expand and modernise 35 airports and the tendering process for ten airports which did not include even a single airport in Tamil Nadu, Mr Karunanidhi said the same paper published a letter from Nilgiris Lok Sabha MP Prabhu to Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel urging him to expand the Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchirapalli and Tuticorin airports in Tamil Nadu.

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