CHENNAI: Claiming that those who registered their lands in favour of TIDCO on Wednesday as part of the land acquisition process for the greenfield airport in Parandur were outsiders and not genuine villagers, the Parandur protest group has announced a major public agitation condemning the state govt and Kancheepuram district collector on Sunday.All farmers of the 19 affected villages will come together at the Ambedkar statue at Eganapuram to register their protest against the ‘murder of democracy’ by the state govt for proceeding with land acquisition without consulting the villagers, who have been protesting the airport for about three years.”The district administration is trying to create an illusion among the public as if villagers have come forward to part with their land by bringing outsiders who recently bought lands in these villages to register their lands in favour of TIDCO, the implementing agency for the airport,” said the protest group led by G Subramaniyan.
“The state govt knew that not a single villager would be ready to part with his/her land, so it resorted to such cheap tactics,” said Subramaniyan.
The protest will take place as planned on Sunday, he added.
However, the district administration maintained that among those 19 who registered their land were a few villagers too, and the compensation of Rs 9.22 crore was deposited in their respective bank accounts on the same day. The registration of the lands took place like a special camp in two sub-registrar offices in the same building in Kancheepuram, and further registrations will take place in the coming weeks in the presence of TIDCO officials, said Kancheepuram district officials.