Farmers oppose Trichy airport runway expansion
The inordinately delayed
process of runway expansion at the Trichy airport from the existing
8,136 ft to at least a length of 10,500 ft, once again met with
turbulence from the farming community on Friday.
At the farmers' grievance day meeting with the district collector on Friday, farmers vehemently opposed the runway expansion plan as about 160 acres of their livelihood (wet land) would have to be sacrificed for the proposed runway. State vice president of Bharthiya Kisan Sangam, Ayyakkannu reminded the meeting that the present runway itself was built over what was known as canal no 15 in 2003, as a result of which as many as 816 acres land was destined to remain dry. Moreover, the present expansion plan envisages to run over the 50-ft-wide Uyyankondan canal at the east of the airport, which runs at 18 feet below the airport runway level. However collector Jayashree Muralidharn said the canal would remain intact and the design was ready to extend the runway over the canal without disturbing it. "It would involve a two-layer plan to desilt the canal whenever needed. The plane will run above while the water will flow smoothly below," Jayashree said.
But farmers said such a move would lead to an avalanche of other problems. "When the runway is built on a raised platform, the areas around it would be inundated during flooding and destroy the crops if any. Ayyakkanu also mooted the idea of developing the airport either on the other side of the Pudukkottai road in the west or near the Bharathidasan University where 800 acres of poromboke land was available.
The airport runway expansion program has been going through a roller coaster ride since the talk of developing non-metro airports in the country was mooted several years ago. Though airport director S Dharmaraj had submitted a
Land Plan Schedule to the district administration for acquiring 510 acres of land as early as in January 2010, it did not take off any further. However, the runway expansion got a shot in the arm after Air India Express Boeing 737 crashed in Mangalore in May 2010 after overshooting the 8,040-ft runway, killing 158 passengers.
At the farmers' grievance day meeting with the district collector on Friday, farmers vehemently opposed the runway expansion plan as about 160 acres of their livelihood (wet land) would have to be sacrificed for the proposed runway. State vice president of Bharthiya Kisan Sangam, Ayyakkannu reminded the meeting that the present runway itself was built over what was known as canal no 15 in 2003, as a result of which as many as 816 acres land was destined to remain dry. Moreover, the present expansion plan envisages to run over the 50-ft-wide Uyyankondan canal at the east of the airport, which runs at 18 feet below the airport runway level. However collector Jayashree Muralidharn said the canal would remain intact and the design was ready to extend the runway over the canal without disturbing it. "It would involve a two-layer plan to desilt the canal whenever needed. The plane will run above while the water will flow smoothly below," Jayashree said.
But farmers said such a move would lead to an avalanche of other problems. "When the runway is built on a raised platform, the areas around it would be inundated during flooding and destroy the crops if any. Ayyakkanu also mooted the idea of developing the airport either on the other side of the Pudukkottai road in the west or near the Bharathidasan University where 800 acres of poromboke land was available.
The airport runway expansion program has been going through a roller coaster ride since the talk of developing non-metro airports in the country was mooted several years ago. Though airport director S Dharmaraj had submitted a
Land Plan Schedule to the district administration for acquiring 510 acres of land as early as in January 2010, it did not take off any further. However, the runway expansion got a shot in the arm after Air India Express Boeing 737 crashed in Mangalore in May 2010 after overshooting the 8,040-ft runway, killing 158 passengers.
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