New Aranmula row as airport promoters plan IT cluster

BACKDOOR ROUTE | Environmentalists view the new application as a covert move to circumvent conservation regulations

- HD Bureau

The state government is evaluating a proposal from the private firm KGS group, the promoters of the now-scrapped Aranmula airport project, to establish a ₹60-crore electronics manufacturing cluster on the same 335.25 acres of land originally earmarked for the airport.

Government records show that more than 90 percent of this site is officially registered as paddy fields or wetlands.

The land in question, spread across Aranmula, Kidangannoor, Mezhuveli and Mallapuzhassery villages within Pathanamthitta's Kozhencherry taluk, mirrors the footprint of the earlier airport project.

In November 2016, the Left Democratic Front government revoked all clearances and industrial status conferred by the previous administration, reaffirming its commitment to preserving agricultural land.