Fearing displacement, livelihood loss, villagers protest expansion of Madurai airport
Over 1,000 police personnel have been deployed in Tamil Nadu's Chinna Udaippa village after locals protested against the land acquisition for Madurai airport's expansion. The villagers demanded three cents of land and a house as compensation for their properties. The current Madurai airport spans 502.25 acres and plans to acquire 633.17 acres more for the expansion project.
Madurai airport's expansion plan and villagers' demands
According to officials, out of the total additional land required for the expansion, 543.64 acres have already been transferred for the project. Madurai Collector MS Sangeetha has approved the acquisition of more land to construct an alternative road that will aid in completing a compound wall around the newly acquired airport land. So far, a 12.36km compound wall has been built on the expanded land.
Infrastructure developments amid Madurai airport's expansion
Some locals even climbed onto the village's overhead water tank to protest the acquisition of their land. The Madurai airport got a new terminal in 2010 but has yet to receive international status despite operating international flights to Singapore, Dubai, and Colombo. In FY 2023-24 alone, it handled 1.4 million passengers and started round-the-clock operations from October 1.
