Even while the district administration has taken initiative for acquiring land for launching the project for expansion of the Salem airport at Kamalapuram in the outskirts of the city, the local farmers have urged the authorities to avoid acquiring farmlands for this project.
The Salem airport was set up more than 25 years ago on an area of about 250 acres. The airport was constructed on the farmlands of paddy, sugarcane and turmeric farmers acquired for this purpose.
The operation of flights from the airport was introduced twice in the past and suspended on both the occasions due to poor patronage and other reasons. At present, the airport is being utilised for the landing of special flights of VIPs and others. The government decided to undertake the expansion works of this airport a couple of years ago and since then the preliminary works on this project were in progress.
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District Collector V. Sampath, accompanied by senior revenue officials, inspected the farmlands situated at Thumbipadi village for the works.
The farmers of the village expressed their opposition for acquiring the farmlands for the project. They said that already the airport constructed after acquiring the farmlands have remained defunct and acquiring more farmlands for the expansion works is not at all justified. They said that they will not allow the authorities to acquire the farmlands for this project.
The Collector convinced the farmers and assured them that their feelings will be taken into consideration while finalising the project.
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The Collector said that a meeting of the farmers of the area will be convened shortly to discuss and solve the issue amicably. The farmers could express their views to the authorities at the meeting, he added.