Residents of Ekanapuram village in Kancheepuram district, Tamil Nadu, on 15 August 2025 unanimously passed resolutions at their Independence Day gram sabha thanking Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay for his opposition to the proposed Parandur greenfield airport and urging the government to rename the village's main road 'Thalapathy Vijay Road'. The resolutions, adopted at a government school in Ekanapuram, reflect both gratitude for Vijay's earlier assurances and mounting pressure on his administration to formally scrap the project.

Background: Over 1,100 Days of Resistance

The Parandur airport — proposed in 2022 as Chennai's second international airport — is planned across nearly 5,000 acres spanning 13 villages in and around Parandur. The project has drawn sustained opposition from affected communities, primarily over the proposed acquisition of agricultural land, residential areas, and water bodies.

Villagers in Ekanapuram have been protesting for more than 1,100 days through demonstrations and other forms of agitation. They have passed resolutions opposing the airport at 16 gram sabha meetings and boycotted seven such meetings to register their dissent. Despite the prolonged agitation, both the Union government and the previous state government continued to pursue the project, including initiating land acquisition proceedings.

Vijay's Promise and the TVK Election Mandate

Chief Minister Vijay visited Parandur on 20 January 2025 and met residents leading the anti-airport campaign. During that visit, he assured them the project would be scrapped if his party came to power. The Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) subsequently included the cancellation of the Parandur airport among its formal election promises.

TVK's subsequent victory in the Assembly election raised expectations among protesting villagers that the proposal would be officially withdrawn. However, the government has not yet made any formal announcement on the project's future, despite its manifesto commitment.

Key Signal: Revenue Officer Transfer Left Vacant

Speculation over the government's stance intensified after the district revenue officer responsible for land acquisition for the airport was transferred on 30 July. Notably, no replacement has been appointed, leaving the post vacant. Villagers view the transfer and the absence of a successor as an encouraging signal that the government may be quietly stepping back from further acquisition activity.

This comes amid broader uncertainty over the project's status — the TVK government has neither formally cancelled the airport nor signalled its continuation, leaving affected communities in a state of prolonged ambiguity.

What Saturday's Resolutions Signal

Saturday's gram sabha resolutions served a dual purpose: expressing appreciation for Vijay's earlier solidarity with the protesting villages and publicly reiterating the expectation that his government will honour its electoral commitment by officially abandoning the airport project. The renaming request — proposing 'Thalapathy Vijay Road' for the village's main street — reflects the community's personal regard for the Chief Minister's pre-election intervention.

With the revenue officer post still vacant and no policy announcement forthcoming, the ball remains firmly in the TVK government's court. Villagers say they will continue to await a formal decision.