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Residents of this district have boycotted the Lok Sabha polls in protest of the TN airport project

  • Posted on April 20, 2024
  • News
  • By Arijit Dutta
  • 171 Views

Residents of over a dozen Tamil Nadu villages boycotted the Lok Sabha elections to protest the state's proposed second airport near Chennai, which requires acquiring their land. Despite compensation offers, they remain steadfast against potential displacement.

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Saturday, 12 villages in Tamil Nadu went on a strike in a demonstration for the second airport project, which the state government wants to establish near Chennai.

In Ekanapuram village of Kanchipuram district, there were a mere 21 voters who actually cast the votes, and they were government employees. Farmers, senior citizens and disabled persons who had made their votes through postal ballots still stayed at home and abstained from casting their votes.

"The government has not heeded our concerns for over 600 days," the protest leader R.L. Elango said while referring to the land acquisition for the airport project in Parandur. "The only chance we had was to boycott the elections, after election dates had been announced."

The DMK government of Dravidian Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has decided to construct a new greenfield airport close to the international airport of Chennai. So, the first step of the land acquisition is from Ekanapuram and the nearby villages. The government had promised 3.5 times the market rate payment, including additional plots of housing and jobs. However, the protesting villagers are not satisfied.

Also Read: Tamil Cinema's Leading Lights Vote in Lok Sabha Elections

The boycott is the culmination of the ongoing protest that has been going on for 600 days already, which the state is accused of not taking into account the concerns of the local community about the threat of displacement and the environmental impacts.

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Arijit Dutta

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