Land acquisition only after state notification
The Kannur airport authorities are planning to conduct the trial landing by December
KANNUR: The land acquisition process for the proposed Greenfield road for the Kannur International Airport will be starting soon after the state government notification.
The Rs 600-crore project, proposed from Thazhe Chovva in Kannur city to Moorkhanparamba, is facing staunch opposition from landowners at the very early stage of the process.
Earlier, the efforts by the government to carry out a survey for the project also failed because of the protests.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Kannur collector P. Bala Kiran said that the administration was waiting for the notification to be issued.
“During the high-level meeting chaired by the Chief Minister last month, where all the MLAs from the districts and two ministers participated, it was decided to complete all the works including construction of roads as early as possible, since the airport construction is nearing completion,” the collector said.
However, the protesters are demanding that the government should concentrate on developing the existing roads which connects to the airport instead of constructing a new road.
“The government is constructing this road to help the land mafia and the smugglers,” said one of the protesters.
The Kannur airport authorities are planning to conduct the trial landing by December. The airport is coming up on 2,061 acres of land and is expected to handle 4.67 million passengers per annum. The runway length of the airport is 3,050 metre and the terminal building area is 80,000 sq.metre.