Thiruvananthapuram: In yet another blow to the Aranmula airport project, the State Land Board has declared 232 acres on the project site as excess land.
The 132 ha of excess include 232 acres of land in Aranmula, Kidangannur, and Mallappuzhasserry villages was under the ownership of Abraham Kalamannil of the Mount Zion Group, who later sold it to the airport’s proprietors, the KGS Group for construction of private airport.
The declaration of excess land was made on the basis of the Kerala Land Reforms Act of 1961, which pegged the land holding limit at 15 acres.
The parliamentary standing committee chaired by CPM MP Sitaram Yechury Friday had asked the government to reconsider the decision to construct the Aranmula airport as it violates the government policy restricting two airports within a distance of 150 km.