Kozhikode: The National Green Tribunal order granting interim stay on the Aranmula airport construction has come as a morale booster for hundreds of farmers fighting to protect the largest remaining paddy cluster in Wayanad, which has been selected as the site for the proposed feeder airport project at Panamaram.
Emboldened by the court order, the farmers' collective is mulling similar legal action and has already served notices to the state chief secretary and the industries department as a precursor to taking legal recourse if the state government went ahead with the project.
Lending credence to their conservation stand, the Kerala State Biodiversity Board (KSBB)has written to chief minister Oommen Chandy expressing concerns about the project. The letter says that the site proposed for the feeder airport is ecologically fragile and pointed out that there were standing paddy crops in 169.28 acres of the 337.64 acres needed for the project. KSBB had conducted a preliminary study at the proposed project site following the opposition raised by farmer groups and environmentalists.
04/04/13 K R Rajeev/Times of India
