Ekanapuram Grama Sabha Names Main Road After CM Vijay Over Airport Scrapping

The grama sabha of Ekanapuram village in Kancheepuram district on Saturday passed a resolution to name the main road in the village after Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay. The 750-metre-long stretch will now be named "Thalapathy Vijay Salai" as an expression of gratitude for dropping the proposed greenfield airport project at Parandur.

The grama sabha meeting was conducted at the government middle school in Ekanapuram under the chairmanship of village panchayat president S Sumathi. During the meeting, members unanimously approved the resolution to rename the village's main road.

The gram panchayat expressed its appreciation to the Chief Minister for deciding to drop the airport proposal to protect local agriculture and safeguard the livelihoods of farmers. According to the resolution, the Chief Minister recognised the 1,100-day-long protests staged by the residents and took a policy decision to abandon the project, with the formal process now underway. The resolution also invoked the blessings of village deities upon the Chief Minister.

The greenfield airport project was originally proposed by the previous DMK government, which had acquired nearly 50 per cent of the required land from around 13 villages in the area. Vijay had opposed the airport plan and initiated his field politics from Parandur ahead of the assembly elections.

During the pre-election period, residents of the village had tonsured their heads as an offering to local deities, praying for Vijay to become the Chief Minister following his promise that he would drop the Parandur airport project if voted to power.