The public consultation held on Tuesday in connection with the proposed construction of 42-metre high structure of a fountain pen for late chief minister Tamil Nadu M Karunanidhi witnessed ruckus with the ruling DMK cadre attempting to stop anyone from opposing the project.
According to the environmentalists, the project site is legally untenable as it lies within the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) and will cause adverse ecological impacts.
The ₹81- crore worth project ‘Muthamizh Arignar Dr Kalaignar Pen Monument’ has got provincial approval by the state and the Union government authorities. The proposed monument involves onshore and offshore construction where the pen is to be at sea in the Bay of Bengal off the coast of Marina Beach at a distance of 360 metres from the shore line in CRZ-IV (A) area.
“Under CRZ zone 4, there are exceptions to building a statue or a memorial in exceptional cases where there is no other alternative place available but this isn’t an exceptional case. The government will be completely violating CRZ regulations,” says climate activist G Sundarrajan whose organisation Poovulagin Nanbargal has opposed the monument. “The landing place of the project comes under CRZ zone 2 where even exceptional cases are not allowed.”
The project would cross ‘seru’ (meaning mud in Tamil), a marker (for fishermen) where it meets the sand, which is a biologically rich place to harvest fish on Marina beach. “It will affect the fishermen’s livelihood… either sea erosion or accretion will happen depending on how they construct the monument and the memorial will be eroded due to rise in sea level and increase in sea waves. The overall coastal ecosystem will be affected,” said the activist.
Environment activists recommend that the state government led by Karunanidhi’s son and chief minister M K Stalin shift the monument to a more meaningful location such as the Anna Centenary Library in Chennai (commissioned by Karunanidhi) or at the library being constructed in Madurai for him.
Meanwhile, fishermen who live near Marina Beach opposed the project during the meeting on Tuesday. A BJP’s fishermen’s wing functionary wondered “why the government wanted to build a monument inside the sea”. When he questioned the necessity to construct the monument taller than the Thiruvalluvar statue in Kanyakumari district, the DMK members began disrupting the proceedings.
During the public consultation, conducted by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB), the ruling DMK cadre had gathered in large numbers and booed anyone who spoke against the monument. Naam Tamizhar Katchi (NTK), the third largest party in Tamil Nadu, whose chief S Seeman, participated in the public hearing, threatened to demolish the monument if it comes up. “We will not allow the monument to be constructed. At least13 fishing villages will be affected due to the project. If you go ahead and construct the monument… I will destroy it,” Seeman said.
In December 2022, advocate B Ramkumar Adityan had moved the National Green Tribunal against the memorial citing that the Marina beach is a nesting ground for Olive Ridley turtles and that the proposed site falls within CRZ 1A (turtle nesting grounds), CRZ II (urban coastline) and CRZ IVA (sea). “Due to construction of memorials, commercial buildings, resorts,residential flats, the beaches are getting narrower and the nesting area for turtles is constantly reducing,”read the petition.
“It is not the right of family members and supporters of any chief minister to demand to provide a place to lay the mortal remains and construct memorial within Anna Square or anywhere adjacent to Anna Square or anywhere in Marina Beach, and Bay of Bengal which will spoil the beach atmosphere and cause irreversible damage to threat to the Olive Ridley Sea Turtles,” the petition read.
“The case will come up for heating on February 2,” said Adityan.
Earlier, the public works department, which will execute the project, filed an application seeking CRZ clearance from the Union ministry for environment, forest and climate change.
The government did not react to the ruckus which ensued after opposing voices were stifled at Tuesday’s consultative meeting.
“Only after we get a clearance from the Union ministry, will we start the project,” said Tamil Nadu’s PWD secretary K Manivasan.
The proposed monument will be developed in 2.11 acres with more than 2200 square metres of the sea area to be reclaimed for the pen pedestal which will come up above sea and a pedestrian pathway above sea, according to the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report.
A pedestrian bridge from Karunanidhi’s existing memorial on the Marina beach to the pen will be at an elevation of 6m from the high tide line. The length of the bridge over the land is 290m and over the sea is 360m covering a travel distance of 650 m. The Bridge will be 9 m wide with a glass flooring of 2m.
“The facility was designed to suit the climate of Chennai,” says the EIA report.
“The monument can be compared to the catamaran on the sea, with which Kalaignar compares himself and the location is unique to the city and the state, as it is the world’s second largest urban beach.”
