Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay has formally scrapped the proposed ₹27,400-crore Parandur greenfield airport project, bringing an end to years of protests by villagers and farmers. But the decision has triggered a new question: what happens to the thousands of acres of land that were already acquired for the project?
Can the government return the land to original owners? What does the Land Acquisition Act say? And what options does Tamil Nadu have now that the project has been shelved?
In this explainer, we break down the legal provisions, the status of acquired land, previous examples of land return in Tamil Nadu, and what the future could hold for Parandur and its residents.