Thiruvananthapuram: With the State government initiating steps to acquire eight hectares of land for constructing a domestic terminal adjacent to the international terminal on the city side, the residents are up in arms against land acquisition and shifting of the existing terminal from the Shanghumughom side.
The Chief Secretary’s directive to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to submit the plan for acquiring land has brought the Vallakkadavu-Vayyamoola Joint Action Council, an umbrella organisation of 26 residents’ associations, councillors and socio-political and religious groups, to the agitation path.
The eight hectares is part of the 32.8 hectares of land sought by the AAI to set up the domestic terminal and ancillary facilities. The terminal, adjacent to the international terminal complex that had come up on the Chakka side, was part of the third and final phase of the master plan conceived by the AAI in the 1990s. But, the opposition from the residents had forced the AAI to take up work on the international terminal only.
18/02/13 S Anil Radhakrishnan/The Hindu
