Chennai: The CPI(M), which supports the government from outside, on Saturday staged a protest here strongly opposing the TVK regime’s plan to build a new Secretariat complex at downtown Foreshore Estate near the Marina beachfront.
The Marxist party demanded that the proposal be immediately dropped as fishermen will be affected and the neighbourhood around the chosen site is heavily congested and hence, unsuitable.
The proposal must be withdrawn and an all-party meeting must be held to solicit views on alternative sites and a suitable place must be selected within the Chennai city, the CPI-M said and warned that it will “stop work” in case authorities commence construction at the proposed site near the beach.
Speaking to reporters after leading the demonstration, CPI (M) State Secretary Shanmugam said that the decision to construct the Secretariat-Assembly complex in Foreshore Estate was “flawed and unacceptable” in view of several relevant factors.
The proposed project near the seashore, if implemented, will seriously affect the livelihoods of fishermen and also their residential neighbourhoods.
“Whoever may have proposed this site, it is unacceptable and must be rejected,” he said.
He said the Tamil Nadu government to accede to the demand of fishermen to build houses for them at that site.
The neighbourhood where the government intends constructing the Secretariat –including the Santhome High Road– is already badly congested and is dotted with many schools.
“In case the Secretariat plan at Foreshore Estate fructifies, and if the CM and Ministers frequent this place, due to congestion, people will not wish to continue to live there,” he said.
The senior Communist leader urged the government to convene an all party meeting and listen to suggestions on alternative sites and then choose an appropriate location.
He asserted: “I would like to make it very clear that Pattinapakkam (Foreshore Estate) is not suitable by any parameter.”
To a question on the work for setting up a new office space for the CM at Namakkal Kavignar Maaligai building’s 10th floor with the Fort St George campus, Shanmugam said that a new Secretariat may take years for completion. “In the meantime, they need space, so its okay.”
When asked about officials so far not inviting any leaders on the issue, he said: “Whether they invite us for talks or not, if government commences work to construct the building we will prevent it and that is all.”
Foreshore Estate was seriously affected when the tsunami wreaked havoc in 2004 and the environmental vulnerability is among the reasons for opposing the project at that particular neighbourhood in the city.
Shanmugam said: “I do not know whether the chief minister is aware of this. But officials must be fully knowing about it. It was officials who provided tsunami relief and built houses for the affected people; the decision to build the new Secretariat in an area vulnerable to tsunami is unacceptable.”
Sarcastically, he said: “I do not know if they have discovered a new technology to prevent tsunami and I would also like to ask the Tamil Nadu government if it has decided that there will not be no tsunami anymore.”
At the same time, the Marxist party does not accept the idea of some leaders to set up an administrative city, “several hundred kilometers away,” he said.
All the headoffices of state-run establishments are within the city limits and hence relocating the Secretariat to a far off place would not be prudent.
There are several suitable sites for the proposed new Secretariat-Assembly complex within the city, he said and listed some of them.
The Guindy Race Course Grounds, spread over 160 acres, owned by the government is among the appropriate choices.
“The Foreshore Estate site identified for the project is just 25 acres; however, in the Guindy campus they can even build four Secretariats,” he said.
Since the terminus for long-distance buses at Koyambedu in the city has been shifted to suburban Kilambakkam, that site is also available.
“Koyambedu bus terminus is a pretty big site and there is no need to displace anybody,” Shanmugam said and flayed what he described as “hasty notification” of the Government Order to build Secretariat at the Foreshore Estate.
“The GO No 564 (on building Secretariat near the Marina Beach) must be withdrawn and the chief minister must immediately announce that the Secretariat will not be built at Foreshore Estate,” he said.
A building to house the Secretariat should remain strong in an appropriate place for a very long time, spanning centuries, the CPI-M leader said.
“Immediately withdraw the government order for building Secretariat-Assembly complex at Foreshore Estate,” was among the slogans raised by Left volunteers who took part in the protest held at Pattinapakkam.
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