Jayalalithaa opposes land acquisition for airport expansion

Jayalalithaa opposes land acquisition for airport expansion

Sat, Aug 29 06:31 PM
Chennai, Aug 29 (IANS) Tamil Nadu's former chief minister J. Jayalalitha Saturday criticised the move to acquire 35 acres of land for expanding the Chennai airport.

'(Chief Minister M.) Karunanidhi came to power promising two-acre land for landless people. Now poor people are losing their land and homes on the pretext of acquisition,' the AIADMK general secretary said in a statement.

According to her, the government is in the process of acquiring 1,070 acres in Kanchipuram district near here for expanding the Chennai airport.

The government has handed over some portion of the acquired land to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and a second runway has been constructed on it.The AAI wants an additional 35.40 acres to have lighting facilities for the second runway and has placed a request to the state government.

'The government, without looking at alternative measures, is bent upon acquiring the land on which more than 10,000 people have been living,' she said.

She said the government and AAI should look at alternative routes for fixing the lighting structures for the second runway.

http://in.news.yahoo.com/43/20090829/836/tbs-jayalalithaa-opposes-land-acquisitio.html

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