Members of the Marxist Communist Party are staging a protest against the establishment of the new Secretariat in Chennai’s Pattinapakkam.
The Tamil Nadu government issued an order a few days ago stating that the new Secretariat would be built in Chennai’s Pattinapakkam at a cost of Rs. 1,200 crore, and that the initial phase of work would begin soon.
Residents of the area have been opposing the project, saying that setting up the new Secretariat in Pattinapakkam would affect the livelihood of the fishermen there.
In this situation, hundreds of people are staging a protest today (Sept. 19), led by the state secretary of the Marxist Communist Party, P. Shanmugam, urging that the plan to build a new Secretariat in Pattinapakkam be immediately abandoned.
Speaking at the protest, state secretary P. Shanmugam said:
“I do not know whether the current Chief Minister knows or does not know that this is an area severely affected by the tsunami. But there is no chance that the officials would not know.
They have continued working on all the relief efforts. Therefore, the plan to set up a new Secretariat in this area is extremely bad. No one can accept this. It is not known whether the Tamil Nadu government has come to the conclusion that a tsunami will never come. Whoever came up with this idea, it is not acceptable.
Similarly, the Marxist Communist Party opposes the plan, as various leaders say, to set up the administrative city several hundred kilometers away. There are plenty of places within Chennai itself to establish a new Secretariat. The Guindy Race Course grounds, owned by the Tamil Nadu government, cover an area of about 160 acres. Even four legislative assemblies could be built there.
If the TVK government has the idea of increasing the number of legislative assembly members to 1,000, there could be no better place than that. Likewise, since the Koyambedu bus terminus has been shifted to Kilambakkam, that place is very large and no one needs to be displaced there. A new Secretariat could be built there if desired.
Therefore, instead of exploring such alternative options, we will not listen to anyone, no matter what ideas they suggest, because to us the rabbit we like has three legs. This reflects the government’s attitude of refusing to accept even the most reasonable advice. Therefore, the recently issued Government Order 564 should be withdrawn immediately,” he said.
