Fishermen to protest Secretariat plan at Foreshore Estate on Sept. 29

Fishing communities spread along Chennai's coastline, from Ennore in the north to Kovalam in the south, will stage a protest at Foreshore Estate on September 29 against the government's proposal to build the new Secretariat on the site. Community leaders from other districts are also expected to take part in the agitation.

Fishing leader K. Bharathi said the protest had been called because the government had shown no inclination to abandon the plan. He said the community had expected Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay to take a decision after returning from his visit to London, and had hoped that the support extended to him at the polls would be returned. That had not happened, he said.

V.R. Vijayan of Maylai Pagudhi Anaithu Meenava Grama Panchayat Sabhai said stakeholders had not been called into any discussion before the decision was taken. He added that the local MLA, who is also a Minister, had neither met the community nor sent any word, and that other political parties, including the DMK, had been voicing support for the fishermen's position.

Residents of the area noted that 14 schools operate in the surrounding neighbourhoods, where traffic is already difficult during morning and evening pick-up hours. A large share of the land identified by the government belongs to Srinivasapuram, one of the fishing hamlets in the area.

Community leader Kabaddi Maran recalled that residents of Thideer Nagar, among them fishing families, were relocated to Tsunami Colony in Semmanchery after the tsunami. He said the land in question lies very close to the beach and that families live there because they have done so for generations. Given the scale of a Secretariat, he argued, it would be better sited inland, away from the sea — a consideration he said matters even more as sea levels rise.

A former planner said accessibility for the public and for Secretariat staff would be among the factors weighed when selecting a site, along with security, usability and travel time. Vertical development would not remain a viable option over the long term, and maintenance would pose problems, the planner said, pointing to conditions at Fort St. George, where files line the corridors, legislators sit close together for want of space, and parking is a persistent difficulty because the campus is shared.