Leaders decry clearance for airport project

Pathanamthitta: The people’s action council and leaders of various political parties have taken strong exception to the clearance given for the proposed private airport project at Aranmula by the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) attached to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.
In a statement here on Thursday, R. Induchoodan, convener of the Palliyoda-Pallivilakku Samrakshana Samiti (PPSS) which has been spearheading a campaign against the proposed private airport, said his organisation would soon launch a legal battle against the clearance given by the EAC. Paddy cultivation in Aranmula’s fertile fields has been disrupted due to water-logging following the filling of the Kozhithode stream as part of the work on the Nalkalickal bridge on the Kidangannur-Aranmula road. The illegal conversion of the Valiyathode stream in the name of the airport project has aggravated the problem, he added.
He said the State government’s report that the Aranmula paddy fields had been lying fallow for the past 10 years was absolutely baseless. The Samiti and other peasant bodies have provided ample proof before the Assembly Committee on Environment and the government that paddy cultivation had been going on in the fields till 2011.
14/09/12 Radhakrishnan Kuttoor/The Hindu

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Categories: airports Sep 2012