Chennai: In the run-up to the assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) chief C. Joseph Vijay had vehemently opposed several key infrastructure projects in the state, framing them as anti-people, anti-farmer and environmentally damaging.
The elections catapulted him to power, and he is now faced with a crucial decision: whether to continue blocking these projects—such as the Parandur Airport, Chennai-Salem Expressway, Kattupalli Port expansion, Melma SIPCOT industrial park, and ONGC hydrocarbon exploration—or make a calculated climb down and allow them in the interest of business and industrial growth.
The new chief minister’s decisions on these stalled, multi-crore projects will be significant as they will not only impact farmland, waterbodies, fishing-related livelihoods, and the entire ecosystems, but will shape the state’s industrial growth, logistics connectivity, employment prospects, and ability to ease pressure on Chennai’s existing infrastructure.
The TVK founder took the oath of office as the chief minister on 10 May.
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The Parandur Airport
When the DMK government announced the greenfield international airport at Parandur, around 40 km west of Chennai, in 2022, Vijay was among its most vocal critics.
He joined farmers and activists in protests, accusing the administration of destroying fertile farmland and waterbodies for a project he alleged was driven by hidden vested interests. He questioned the DMK why it opposed similar projects when in opposition but supported them when in power.
The proposed airport, spread across 5,746 acres and estimated to cost around Rs 27,400 crore, was conceived to relieve pressure off the Chennai airport in Meenambakkam and also bring in industrial growth in the region.
Land acquisition proceedings were underway when the DMK lost power in these elections, the project is expected to be reviewed by Chief Minister Vijay, who was on record to say that the proposed airport would destroy 90 percent of farmland and 13 waterbodies in the region.
He had accused the DMK government of choosing industrial interests over farming communities.
“Only a government that is anti-people will bring a project by displacing farmers,” he had told protestors in Parandur in January 2025. My appeal to the Union and state governments is to reconsider the airport in Parandur.”
After becoming chief minister, Vijay has reportedly ordered a “status quo” on the proposed airport project, temporarily stopping further land acquisition and development activities.
The project continues to be in legal and administrative limbo too with unresolved land compensation disputes.
Chennai-Salem Expressway
The 277-kilometre eight-lane Chennai-Salem Expressway was designed to be a high-speed logistics project that would improve connectivity in parts of western Tamil Nadu, potentially slashing freight costs and connecting industrial clusters in Salem, Dharmapuri, and Krishnagiri to Chennai’s port and airport infrastructure.
When the AIADMK government pushed it forward in 2018, the DMK, which was then in opposition, opposed the move, claiming the project was an assault on farmers, village ecosystems, and land rights.
Opposing the project in 2019, DMK president M.K. Stalin had promised to scrap it if his party came to power in 2021. His party did win the elections and Stalin became the chief minister.
But his government took a soft stand on the project, even without specifically stating it.
Then Highways Minister E.V. Velu said in April 2022, there was “no change in DMK’s stand” while maintaining that the government was not against the project, but it required the support of farmers.
He said decisions could only be made after consulting people, farmers, and noted the project had been scaled to a six-lane one, and would need obtaining environmental clearances.
Velu said during a debate in the assembly that the DMK did not change the stance on the construction of the eight-lane expressway.
He further said that it is the Union government’s project, and the DMK government did not say that they wanted the project. “There is no opposition or support for this project,” he said.
In reply to a question by PMK Rajya Sabha member Anbumani Ramadoss in 2023, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said the DMK government never officially opposed or rejected the project in formal communications.
As for Vijay, while he was at protests against the Parandur airport, he said while the DMK opposed the Salem Expressway but it proposed the Parandur Airport which shows their “double-standard”.
The protests, court petitions, and political pressure have stalled the expressway project. It has been approved on paper, but it has not taken off on ground as surveys remain incomplete and land acquisition unresolved across districts.
Kattupalli Port
When the AIADMK was in power and Adani Group’s Rs 53,031-crore Kattupalli Port expansion proposal was under active consideration in 2018, the DMK opposed it, saying it would adversely affect coastal communities, fishing activity, and cause environmental damage.
The Kattupalli expansion by Adani Group, which acquired a 97 percent stake in the port from Larsen and Toubro in 2018, had proposed expanding it from 330 acres to over 6,100 acres.
The project promised to transform the facility into a major container and multi-purpose cargo hub north of Chennai, with significant spillover benefits for the broader logistics and manufacturing corridor.
Vijay had taken a dig during the Parandur airport protests, at the DMK for opposing the expansion of Kattupalli Port but supporting the Parandur Airport construction.
The project remains entangled in legal challenges, environmental clearance disputes, and sustained protests from fishing communities across multiple coastal villages in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
Environmentalists and experts have also raised serious concerns, warning that the expansion could cause massive coastal erosion and lead to a loss of biodiversity, particularly affecting indigenous fish species, crabs, prawns, and small turtles.
While villagers worry that their land will be submerged and their traditional fishing-based livelihoods destroyed, Adani Ports has denied these claims.
Now that Vijay has to make a decision on the fate of the project as the chief minister, it is unclear if the new government would attempt to reset the project’s terms, or revive the clearance process under fresh conditions.
Melma SIPCOT Industrial Project
Proposed by the DMK government in 2022, the third SIPCOT (State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu) industrial park was planned across 3,174 acres in Melma village and seven neighbouring areas in Tiruvannamalai district.
The Stalin government said it would create employment opportunities in a region that required industrial development. But the project was opposed by farmers who staged sit-in protests for months. Some of them were arrested.
During the TVK’s July 2025 executive meeting, Vijay moved and passed 20 major policy resolutions. One resolution explicitly and strongly condemned the DMK government’s plan for the Melma SIPCOT project and demanded that the state completely scrap the expansion.
The TVK has positioned itself on the side of agricultural communities fighting land-acquisition-driven industrial projects. At the same executive-committee meeting, Vijay declared the TVK would “always be on the side of farmers” and oppose industrial projects that threaten farmland and waterbodies.
After coming to power, his party has not taken up the project for discussion yet.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
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This is why I am not a fan of him.
Why need big projects ? Sell off everything and give alms per month to every person. And win votes.
It will be a big achievement for the economically illiterate Vijay if he builds even a kilometre of road.