On 24 August 2026, Tamil Nadu CM Joseph Vijay announced in the Assembly that the government was scrapping the Parandur airport project.
This move has triggered criticism (in loud voices) from the DMK specifically. The DMK has accused the ruling TVK government of compromising Chennai’s future growth.
But the DMK’s own record on the Parandur project raises questions about whether the party is in a position to oppose its cancellation. The central issue is simple: despite being in power for five years, the DMK government failed to complete even the land acquisition required to get the airport project off the ground.
The contrast with other major South Indian airport projects is striking.
Bengaluru, Hyderabad Built New Airports Despite Existing Facilities
Bengaluru and Hyderabad already had operational airports when plans were drawn up for new international airports. Yet the need for larger facilities was identified well in advance, land was secured and construction began around 2005.
The new Bengaluru airport, spread across roughly 4,500 acres, was completed in about 31 months and became operational in 2008. Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, spread across around 5,000 acres, was also completed rapidly, in approximately 35 months, and opened in 2008.
Both projects demonstrated the importance of planning ahead rather than waiting for existing infrastructure to become completely inadequate.
The political circumstances at the time are also relevant. The DMK was in power in Tamil Nadu from 2006 to 2011, while the Congress-led UPA government was in power at the Centre. The DMK was an important constituent of the UPA and had substantial representation in the Union government.
If the need for a second airport for Chennai was already evident, the question is why the DMK government did not move with similar urgency during those years.
Instead, the Parandur proposal remained unresolved for years.
Parandur Was Announced, But The Project Barely Moved
The proposal for a second airport at Parandur was announced in 2019. However, when the DMK was in opposition, its leaders and supporters opposed the project.
After returning to power in 2021, the DMK government itself took up the Parandur airport proposal and moved towards establishing it as Chennai’s second airport.
Yet five years later, the project had still not reached the construction stage.
A major bottleneck was land acquisition.
The proposed airport required around 4,500 acres. According to the figures cited in the criticism of the DMK government, only around 1,700 acres had been acquired, leaving more than 2,800 acres still to be acquired.
In other words, after a full five-year term, the government had not completed the basic land acquisition necessary for construction to begin.
The COVID-19 pandemic undoubtedly disrupted government activity for roughly two years. But even accounting for that disruption, the pace of the project has come under scrutiny.
Greenfield airport projects elsewhere show what can be achieved when land acquisition, approvals and construction are pursued with urgency.
Visakhapatnam Shows What Could Have Been Done
The newly developed airport at Bhogapuram in Andhra Pradesh provides another comparison.
Visakhapatnam already had an airport, yet Andhra Pradesh moved ahead with a much larger greenfield facility to cater to future demand. The airport was inaugurated on August 7 after being constructed in approximately 31 months.
The broader experience of Bengaluru and Hyderabad also shows that major greenfield airports can be completed within roughly 31 to 40 months once the required land and approvals are secured.
Against that backdrop, the Parandur project’s inability to even complete land acquisition during the DMK’s five-year tenure becomes difficult to ignore.
Had the DMK government acquired the land swiftly, completed negotiations, paid appropriate compensation and commenced construction, the project could potentially have progressed far enough to make cancellation by a subsequent government considerably more difficult.
Instead, the airport remained stuck at the preparatory stage.
Congress Leaders Raise Questions Over Land Purchases
The controversy does not end with the slow pace of land acquisition.
Congress leaders who were part of the political alliance with the DMK have themselves raised questions about land transactions around the proposed airport site.
Congress MP Praveen Chakravarty and Tamil Nadu Congress president Manickam Tagore have called for an inquiry into who purchased large parcels of land surrounding the proposed Parandur airport site over the past several years.
These demands have added another layer to the controversy.
It is alleged that politicians and real-estate interests linked to the then-DMK government acquired land in the surrounding areas before the airport project was executed, and that this contributed to further delay.
If large-scale land purchases did take place around the proposed airport site, the obvious questions are: Who purchased the land? When was it purchased? Through whom? At what prices? And did anyone with advance knowledge of the project benefit from those transactions?
DMK’s Opposition To Other Significant Projects Is Also Under Question
The Parandur controversy also fits into a broader criticism frequently levelled against the DMK: opposing major infrastructure projects while in opposition and supporting or reviving them after returning to power.
The eight-lane Chennai-Salem greenfield highway is one example. The DMK strongly opposed the project while it was in opposition but subsequently indicated that such infrastructure could be pursued when in government.
The Sterlite Copper plant in Thoothukudi is another politically contentious example, especially the economic and industrial consequences of its closure demonstrate how the DMK took positions that changed depending on whether it was in government or opposition.
The argument being made over Parandur is therefore not merely about the cancellation announced by the TVK government. It is about whether the DMK can credibly claim that the project was progressing smoothly under its administration.
The Bigger Question Is Chennai’s Infrastructure Future
The cancellation of Parandur raises serious questions about Chennai’s infrastructure future. But the responsibility cannot rest solely with the TVK government that cancelled the project.
The DMK had five years in power after returning in 2021, yet failed to complete land acquisition for the proposed 4,500-acre airport. Only around 1,700 acres had been acquired, leaving the project far from construction.
That delay left Parandur vulnerable to a change in government and policy. The DMK can now accuse TVK of abandoning Chennai’s second airport, but the obvious question is: why did the DMK fail to take the project from proposal to construction during its five-year tenure?
The experiences of Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam show that greenfield airports can move far faster when governments act decisively.
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