THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Putting up a strong defence, CPM Pathanamthitta district committee made it clear that it was ‘ignorant of the irregularities connected with the Aranmula airport project’ which was granted in-principle approval by the previous LDF Government.“There is no change in the party’s stand on the airport project. The district committee meeting in which state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan was present had discussed the issue long back and made it clear that no airport should be built on acquired converted land,” A Padmakumar, acting district secretary, told ‘Express.’Asked about the role in the project of former Aranmula MLA K C Rajagopalan, who had recently unsuccessfully contested to the district committee, Padmakumar replied that the “party’s stand on the issue is very clear and we will discuss these things later in detail.’’In the all-party meeting convened by the Pathanamthitta District Collector on Saturday, the party had a made a tactical retreat on the controversial airport project, by demanding the de-notification of 500 acres of land declared as industrial area in Aranmula, Mallappuzhassery and Kidangannur villages by the LDF government in February, 2011.Padmakumar also drew the attention to the fact that the order of the Kerala High Court on February 24, 2004, which directed returning the soil used for filling the paddyfield of the acquired land to its original place, was made on a petition filed by the district committee of Kerala State Karshaka Thozhilali Union (KSKTU).Moreover, contrary to the records distributed by the KGS Group recently, Aranmula is not in the list of 15 greenfield airports with ‘in principle approval’. This is made clear in a written reply by Vayalar Ravi, the then minister for Civil Aviation, to Vasanthi Stanley in the Rajya Sabha on December 15, 2011. Kannur is the only airport proposed from the state which had found a place in the list.The all-party meeting had decided to recommend to the government to denotify the 500 acres of land declared as industrial area in Aranmula, Mallappuzhassery and Kidangannur villages and to stop all further proceedings with regard to the proposed project till the notification was withdrawn.The decision was taken following strong opposition against the project from the CPM, CPI, BJP and representatives of the People’s Action Council. “There’s clear violation in norms for the project. The LDF Government gave in principle approval by asking the company to follow the law of the land. But there is mystery behind the project and people’s suspicions should be cleared. We want the land to be denotified before any further discussions on the topic,’’ said P Prasad, CPI district secretary.
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