Thiruvananthapuram: Senior Congress leader V.M. Sudheeran and poet Sugathakumari have demanded that the government repeal its decision to have 10 per cent stake in the Aranmula international airport project. The poet demanded that the government cancel the permission for the project.
Mr. Sudheeran and Ms. Sugathakumari told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday that the government decision had been made disregarding the serious findings of the Assembly committee on environment that had cited the lapses committed by various officials in reclaiming paddy fields and violation of rules. The Cabinet decision amounted to whitewashing the previous LDF government’s decision to grant permission for the project without conducting the mandatory studies, including the environment impact assessment. This would create a wrong precedent.
Government participation in the company would help the promoters to gain undue advantage and help to bypass the land use rules and paddy field and wetland conservation rules. The government had taken share in a project in which the District Collector had given a directive to cancel the transfer of registry of the land.
12/01/13 The Hindu
