Proposed site of the airport. Proposed site of the airport.

The Kerala government has decided to create a new airport to cater to the inflow of devotees to Sabarimala temple in the state. The state cabinet on Wednesday decided to initiate the process to set up the airport at Harrisons Malayalam Ltd’s Cheruvally Estate in Kanjirapally taluk of Kottayam district. The airport will be 40 km from Pamba, the starting point of the Sabarimala pilgrimage.

The government had earlier appointed a four-person panel headed by additional chief secretary P H Kurian. It was on the recommendation of this panel that this spot was selected. The estate has about 2,263 acres available for the project.

In fact, the land in question is under litigation as the government had moved court claiming this plot is actually revenue land. The Harrisons estate had been taken over by the Believers’ Church a few years back. The government claims in court that this transfer of land was illegal. This is the reason as to why there is still no clarity on how the government will acquire the land. It is also not clear if money will be paid for the acquisition, as this has already been highlighted as revenue land.

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