Tamil Nadu CM Vijay: Parandur greenfield airport project to be shelved

Making several announcements in the Assembly, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay on Monday announced fulfilling TVK's key electoral assurances.He declared that the Parandur greenfield airport project will be shelved.

The project had been strongly opposed by farmers who did not wish to part with their farm lands.

The CM also announced three free cooking gas cylinders and also announced the expansion of the fare-free bus travel scheme for women and made services such as deluxe and express free for beneficiaries.

"There will be no riders like income ceiling or number of trips for women to avail fare-free bus travel - Vettri Payanam," Vijay said, making a statement under Rule 110.

The scheme - Vettri Payanam - is borrowed from Vijay's party the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, meaning "journey to success."

Women can also travel free of charge on Express, LSS, and Deluxe government buses operating in metropolitan and urban areas and also on regular fare buses in suburban (Mofussil) and hilly areas.

This scheme will be rolled out on October 2, coinciding with Gandhi Jayanthi, he said and added the move will entail the state government an additional expenditure of Rs 6,000 crore per annum.

On the Annapoorani Super Six scheme - a major welfare promise made by Vijay in the run up to the April Assembly election, assuring to provide six free LPG cylinders to every eligible family in Tamil Nadu every year to reduce their household living expenditure, the Chief Minister said initially 3-free cooking gas cylinders will be provided, and the amount will be credited directly into the bank account of the beneficiaries.

"This will reduce the burden of the people who have been spending extra amount to obtain the cylinders. The government has decided to provide the cost of the cooking gas cylinders. Three free LPG cylinders will be given in the first phase and the price for cylinders will be directly credited into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries," Vijay said, amidst loud thumping of tables by the Treasury.

The move will benefit 1,30,16,104 families with an annual income of nearly Rs 2.5 lakh, economically backward, small and medium farmers families, differently abled and poor families.

"The preparatory work has commenced and the scheme will be launched this Pongal (mid-January) 2027 festival," Vijay said and added the state government will allocate Rs 4,000 crore per annum for this initiative.

In a major policy shift, Vijay announced that the Parandur greenfield airport project will be abandoned and an alternative site will be identified for the airport project.

The TVK government, Vijay said, stands firmly with the people and would not allow an airport to disrupt the local communities. Nearly 55 percent of the land chosen for the project comprised crucial waterbodies and wetlands, making runway operations highly unsafe and risking severe flooding in the area.

Noting that the administration was not against development, the CM said the government would actively pursue an alternative location for Chennai's second airport. The new site will be selected through thorough expert technical feasibility studies and will be chosen where there is no public opposition.

He said the state has planned to establish a fifth terminal on the north-western side of the Chennai International Airport, Meenambakkam, to augment the airport's annual passenger handling capacity by an additional 20 million. Once the ongoing work at the third terminal is completed, the airport will handle 35 million passengers per year.

"The passenger handling capacity will totally increase by 55 million passengers through these two terminals," he said.

The announcement sparked immediate protest by the opposition DMK, which claimed that the site relocation would cause adverse economic damage to the state.

The Parandur airport was originally planned on a massive scale to serve as a secondary airport for Chennai and its expanding neighbourhood, and was originally initiated by the previous DMK regime in 2022. This mega-project covering over 5,700 acres across 13 villages in neighbouring Kancheepuram district was envisioned for Rs 27,400 crore.

Local farmers, landowners and villagers primarily led by Ekanapuram villagers staged a massive protest in which environmental advocacy groups too joined. They claimed that about 2,500 villagers and farmers would be displaced, affecting their livelihood if the project comes up.

Further, technical assessments by the Airport Authority of India revealed that 800 to 900 acres of the earmarked land consisted of vital wetlands and waterbodies, making it physically unsuitable for runway construction.

The 1,100-day protest officially ended on August 24, 2026. Anticipating the final government policy shift, the Ekanapuram village panchayat had passed a resolution on Independence Day to thank the state government for keeping its poll promise to abandon the site in the interest of the ryots, a source said.

During his first official visit to Ekanapuram on January 20, 2025, Vijay as Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam president assured the protesting farmers that he would stand firmly with them and ensure their fertile agricultural lands and houses would not be destroyed for the airport project.

Recalling his visit to Ekanapuram, Vijay said, "I stand firmly with the people. The steps taken to establish a new airport at Parandur will be abandoned by this government."