A runway that was never extended, 135 families watch their lives being upended

In Keezhallur, Kannur, 165 families have waited nearly a decade for compensation after their land was frozen for an airport expansion that never happened. Homes leak, wells are buried, farmland lies ruined — and not a rupee has reached them since 2018. On top of that, banks are serving attachment notices to defaulters. As the local body election approaches, anger is boiling over. Lifelong Marxists say they will vote against the CPM this time. This news report documents the lives and struggles of people in Keezhallur, Kanad and Kollipalam who can’t sell land for treatment, families living under leaking roofs, and the political indecision that pushed an entire region into paralysis.