Ekanapuram villagers in Kancheepuram district staging a protest near a lake against the proposed Parandur greenfield airport project on May 21, 2023
| Photo Credit: B. Velankanni Raj

The Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK)-led Tamil Nadu government, fulfilling one of its poll promises, has officially announced that the proposed greenfield airport project planned as Chennai’s second airport at Parandur in Kancheepuram district would be dropped. Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay announced the decision in the Assembly on August 24, 2026 saying that Chennai needs a second airport, but not at the cost of agricultural land, farmers’ livelihoods.

The Parandur project, estimated to cost around ₹27,400 crore, was planned across 3,000 acres of fertile agricultural lands and was expected to eventually handle up to 100 million air passengers a year.

The move to drop the project four years after Parandur was finalised as the site for Chennai’s second airport comes in the backdrop of years of stiff opposition and sustained protests by the farmers and residents of villages around Ekanapuram in Kancheepuram district since 2022 who cited critical environmental threats; loss of farm lands, waterbodies and livelihoods; and risks of displacement of families.

On the other hand, the scrapping of the airport project has raised questions over the future course of action pertaining to the roughly 1,700 acres of agricultural lands that were already acquired during the tenure of the erstwhile DMK government.

Meanwhile, the chorus urging the State government to expedite the identification of an alternative, new site for Chennai’s second airport grows louder.

Published – August 28, 2026 01:38 pm IST