Airport expansion: Move afoot to rehabilitate Pattathammal residents

(Rep Image)

A solution to the long-delayed land acquisition for the expansion of Trichy airport from the nearby Pattathammal Street seems to be emerging. The district administration is planning to accommodate those who lose their land and houses in the acquisition in the apartment owned by the Slum Clearance Board.


In fact, officials said that the process of identifying the housing site had commenced. District collector K Rajamani said that they were speaking to the officials of Slum Clearance Board in this regard. They had planned to accommodate the residents of Pattathammal street — who would forgo their lands and house. However, the plan was yet to be conveyed to the residents, he added.
On the other hand, airport director K Gunasekaran told reporters that negotiations with residents of Pattathammal area were going on. He expressed the hope that the boundary for the acquisition would be finalised soon. “Once compensation is announced by the state government, the process of the acquisition will be over”, he added.

As reported, Airports Authority of India (AAI) has planned to expand the airport according to which a new state-of-the-art two-level integrated terminal would be constructed at a cost of Rs 920 crore. Revenue officials have been engaged in acquiring private land, including residential areas, for the expansion work on the terminal building at the international airport. Officials had surveyed and earmarked 42 of the 300 habitations on Pattathammal Street in this regard.

When the revenue team approached the area to measure the land, it had faced stiff opposition from the residents. They said that the officials had started the process without consulting them. The sites were given to them as early as in 1973 by the then minister for Adi Dravidar and Scheduled Tribe welfare, Rajangam.

Source