Aranmula airport grounded as LDF government withdraws clearance

Cabinet scraps orders allowing the construction of a greenfield facility.

File photo of LDF activists ploughing on the land acquired for proposed Aranmula airport as a part of protest. The Kerala government led by LDF has scrapped the project on Wednesday.

The Kerala Government has snapped all its links with the proposal for setting up a greenfield airport at Aranmula in Pathanamthitta district, withdrawing the in-principle clearance it had given for the project.

The decision to wash its hands off the controversy-ridden project was taken by the State Cabinet at its weekly meeting here on Wednesday.

The Cabinet also decided to scrap all the orders the government had issued in relation to the airport project. With this, the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) has kept one of its poll promises.

From the beginning, the project, mooted in February 2009, was ridden by controversies. The State government had given the in-principle clearance for the project on February 2, 2010 and declared Aranmula and surrounding areas as an industrial area.

Environmental activists and political parties launched an agitation against the project on November 18, 2011. Despite this, the Civil Aviation Ministry had granted clearance.

On November 18, 2013, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) granted environmental clearance for the project. However, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) cancelled the environmental clearance on May 28, 2014 and the Defence Ministry withdrew its clearance on May 8, 2015.