JOIN USIn fact, Airports Authority of India (AAI) had submitted a proposal in this regard to the Centre. The authority had even surveyed Kanchinadka and Nandikur in Palimar gram panchayat. Though it was not plain terrain, it could have been levelled. This area was best suited for airport, AAI had felt.
The proposal was dropped owing to the opposition from I Ramarao, MP, and other Kerala leaders and an international airport was built at Kozhikode (Calicut). The residents of Padubidri feel, however, that if the airport had come up in Padubidri, mega industries like Suzlon and Nagarjuna thermal power plant would not have come to undivided Dakshina Kannada. They had opposed AAI’s survey of the land for the airport.
The Centre had proposed to make use of the large extent of government land at Kanchinadka for the airport. When the airport plan was dropped, the land was distributed among the landless.