Kannur airport road survey: Meeting with agitators fails

The greenfield road planned to be built from Kannur to the proposed airport site at Mattanur is likely to be a non-starter as yet another meeting held to find an amicable settlement to the agitation launched against the road survey ended up in a mess.


A meeting convened by District Collector Retan Kelkar at Anjarakkandy to resolve the issue couldn’t take a decision on the issue following the adamant stand taken by the office-bearers of the local action committee leading the agitation against the greenfield road. They asked the authorities to abandon the proposal for the road and the survey planned to be held as part of the project.


The District Collector informed the representatives of the people and the action committee that the survey was being held to explore the possibilities of constructing a road to the airport site from Kannur.


His appeal to the people to cooperate with the survey was rejected by the local action committee of the people.


The office-bearers of the action committee were of the opinion that the development of the existing Mele Chovva-Mattanur road was enough to meet the requirements of the Kannur Airport.


The construction of a new road would result in large-scale displacement of families between Kannur and Mattanur, they said.