PR Pandian, the president of Tamil Nadu Federation of All Farmers Association, was detained at the Thozhupedu toll gate at the entrance of Chengalpattu district by the Kancheepuram police officials on September 17. He was on the way to participate in a hunger protest that is being organized by the residents of Parandur in Eganapuram, who have been staging protests against the proposed second airport which is to be built in their locality. This is the second time that this farmer leader has been detained by police officials, while he was trying to meet the villagers of Parandur in Kancheepuram district. He was detained on September 4 and was released by evening.
Poovulagin Nabargal, an environmental conservation organization, has condemned the actions of the police to detain Pandian. “This detention is against democratic principles as the police have tried to oppress people who have the right to protest peacefully to convey their resentment,” the statement reads. The organisation also demanded PR Pandian’s release.
Faced with growing resistance from the residents of Parandur and neighbouring other 12 villages, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MLAs and MP for the first time reached out to the protesters and held a discussion with residents of Nagapattu on Wednesday, September 7. But the residents rejected the compensation announced by the government and started to stage a protest a week later. Every evening, for one or two hours, the residents of Parandur gather and convey their opposition to the government’s plan of setting up Tamil Nadu’s second airport in Parandur.
Watch: Chennai second airport: Security stepped up at Parandur | TNM Ground report
It is to be noted that the security has been beefed up in the 13 villages that are earmarked for Chennai's second airport and police have been deployed at all the entry points to these villages. The residents of Parandur fear losing their lands, and are not ready to give up their ancestral land and homes, even as the Tamil Nadu government announced compensation that will be 3.5 times the value of their land and also assured government jobs to the residents of Parandur at the newly constructed airport.
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