Staff Reporter
KANCHEEPURAM: Residents of Lakshmi Nagar in Gerugambakkam have urged Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi to use good offices to persuade the Union government to save their habitat from getting wiped out of revenue records.
Talking to reporters here on Monday, after registering their objection against acquisition of land for the Chennai airport expansion project, they said the Chief Minister might not have been properly briefed about their pathetic situation.
The Chief Minister had decided to shelve the land acquisition project with respect to Kaul Bazzar, Pozhichallur and other areas, in deference to the wishes of the residents of those areas.
“We believe that he will definitely heed our plea to convince the Union government to drop the Chennai airport expansion project and concentrate on setting up greenfield airport near Sriperumbudur”, they added.
Dhanam and Faridha, residents of the area, said they were haunted by fears about loss of their lands owing to the project.
http://www.hindu.com/2008/01/30/stories/2008013059620400.htm
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1 comment:
Hey look at this article in new york times.
They aslo fight for the same cause.
I believe humans are the same any where, the US or India. If a right is bestoewed to a US citizen in US i find no reason why the same is not applicable in India
Please find the article as below:
"Panel Calls for Limit on Airport Expansion
By MERRI ROSENBERG
FURTHER expansion of the County Airport should be severely curtailed or halted altogether because of quality-of-life and environmental issues affecting residents, airport neighbors and especially the adjacent Kensico Reservoir.
Those conclusions were presented to the Environment Committee of the Board of Legislators last Tuesday by representatives of several citizen task forces established by the Citizens' Advisory Subcommittee of the Environment Committee. The Citizens' Advisory Subcommittee had been appointed by the Environment Committee to study the airport.
''We were given carte blanche by the legislature's Committee on the Environment,'' said Julius Shultz, who is a member of the citizens' advisory subcommittee. ''We were talking about the greater issues that affect the airport, like noise pollution, air pollution, ground water and runoff. We feel that quality-of-life issues affect the economy.''
While neighboring residents -- especially members of the Purchase Friends Meeting whose silent Sunday morning worship has frequently been disrupted by the roar of planes overhead -- as well as county residents from as far away as Somers and Hawthorne have complained about airport noise for the last few years, noise is not the only environmental problem.
Of particular concern to members of the subcommittee, who echoed similar themes whether they spoke for the economic task force, the environmental task force or the maintenance and expansion task force, was the impact on Kensico Reservoir. It supplies the county with 85 percent of its drinking water and also supplies a majority of New York City's water. Its proximity to the airport, however, means that the reservoir is subject to storm water runoff, which includes chemicals like petroleum products and de-icing fluids. Recently, some airport drainage was diverted to Rye Lake, which flows into Long Island Sound.
''At first, I thought of the airport as purely a noise issue,'' said Ellen Kaidanow, a member of the citizens' advisory committee and chairwoman of the town of Harrison's airport advisory committee. ''I realized after working on the committee that water is as important. The airport is sitting right on top of the water supply for 10 million people. The runoff has been going to Kensico. Recently, it has been re-directed to Blind Brook, which means it ultimately ends up in Long Island Sound. We want the legislature to look at where the runoff is going. We want to protect the water now so we don't have to build a water-filtration plant. Any revenue gained from airport expansion will be wiped out if we have to build a filtration plant.''
Possible threats to the adjacent watershed are serious, said Peter Dermody, a senior hydrogeologist with the Long Island-based concern of Fanning, Phillips & Molnar Engineers, who acted as consultant for the subcommittee.
''De-icing fluid has gone into Rye Lake,'' Mr. Dermody said. ''This is causing a degrading of the water quality in Rye Lake. Because they de-ice at the airport, the proposed expansion would lead to an expansion in the rate of pollutant loading. Our position is that there have been impacts to the environment from airport activities. The expansion of the airport would lead to an increased rate of degradation in water quality.''
In the view of Ronald B. Bianchi, Supervisor-Mayor of Harrison, the reckoning from the airport's environmental impact is already at hand. ''The runoff of de-icing chemicals goes into the Rye Lake reservoir system,'' he said. ''It's a terrible runoff problem. The county has been on a campaign to clean up the Hudson River and Long Island Sound. Do they want to risk Long Island Sound just to keep the airport in existence? My town and I are against any expansion of this airport.
''The airport has caused a financial burden. We buy our water from New York City, which gets it from Kensico. Harrison owns 45 percent of the Westchester Joint Waterworks, along with the village of Mamaroneck and the town of Mamaroneck. Because of the runoff from the airport, our water doesn't meet standards. That water is not as clean as the water upstream or the water downstream as a result of the airport runoff. The town of Harrison has had to pay $1.7 million to buy the real estate for a filtration plant and will have to share the cost of a $25 million to $30 million filtration plant.''
The citizens' advisory committee recommended that the county agree to accept zero tolerance for environmental damage at the airport. It also recommended that the county conduct detailed studies to identify and determine the types of damage, enact legislation to protect the Kensico Reservoir and Blind Brook, extend the Terminal Capacity Agreement and require a mandatory curfew for all aircraft"
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