FERVENT APPEAL TO THE HON’BLE CHIEF MINISTER OF TAMILNADU

FERVENT APPEAL TO THE HON’BLE CHIEF MINISTER OF TAMILNADU

Greetings to You Madam & We, the people, Congratulate You and Wish You a Great Success !

On behalf of the families at Manapakkam, Gerugampakkam, Kolapakkam and Tharapakkam affected by land acquisition for the proposed Parallel runway plan for Chennai airport expansion , the following appeal is submitted for the kind consideration of The Hon’ble Chief Minister of Tamilnadu:

· With your vision and dream to develop TamilNadu as No.1 state in the country, during The Hon’ble Chief Minister’s earlier stewardship 2001 thru 2006, it was decided to expand the existing airport at Meenambakkam by acquiring lands at Pozhichalur, Pammal, Anakaputhur and nearby villages

· During the above said period, we invested our life savings and bought CMDA approved lands and houses in Manapakkam, Gerugampakkam, Kolapakkam and Tharapakkam villages which were not at all considered for the expansion purposes.

· While the Airport expansion plan was in progress, the subsequent Government formed by Mr.M.Karunanithi altered above mentioned plan and decided to acquire our lands and houses for Airport expansion, runway construction in spite of clear CMDA approvals.

· On July 9th 2007, TamilNadu Government headed by Mr.M.Karunanithi issued a GO cancelling the above Airport Expansion plan and proposing to acquire 1069.99 Acres of land in the villages of Manapakkam, Gerugampakkam, Kolapakkam and Tharapakkam. CMDA was then directed to immediately freeze all building activities in these villages. This G.O. also indicated that the Government’s plans to acquire 4820.66 acres of land in Sriperumbudur & Thiruvallur taluks for constructing a new Green Field Airport.

· Because of the notices issued to us under Section 3 (2) of the Tamil Nadu Acquisition of Land for Industrial Purposes Act 1997, we are affected financially and emotionally for the past FOUR years.

· We are paying EMI on the Home loans availed by us , but no HOME to avail so far. Also, we have invested most of our life’s savings on building these houses. The majority of the residents are retired officers from defense and State and Central Government services, who have purchased the property lured by the peaceful and quiet ambience of the locality. This has been our Dream Home project and many of the investors are shattered on not being able complete the houses.

· Since the houses are not completed because of the acquisition notice, most of us are residing in rental houses, paying rent also.

· We understand that the extension of cross runway already done is sufficient to cater to the traffic expected till 2020.

· We request you to please advise the relevant authorities to de-notify our lands at the earliest so that we may proceed with continuing construction of our houses, which we left half way due to the acquisition notice. This will also put an end to the FOUR years of misery and sufferings endured by all of us.

· De-notification of these lands will also save the 947 houses of about 5000 inhabitants of the area, save the Omega International School which is providing education to more than 2000 students, save several industries and brick-kilns, wet cultivable lands, livelihood of 2000 farmers and needless to say several 1000s of crores of rupees, which can otherwise be utilized for other development schemes in the state.

· Further, it is also learnt that the parallel runway project would cause environmental issues to the Adyar River thereby endangering the ecology of the region; besides, it is also believed to pose many security threats to the air passengers, apart from flooding the runway during rainy seasons affecting the safety and normalcy of the air traffic.

· We, therefore, pray to your good offices to advise the relevant officers to de-notify our lands from the acquisition for the parallel runway project. We will be ever grateful for our lifetime to the Hon’ble Chief Minister for this act of kindness.