Deccan Chronicle        12.01.2011

Jan. 11: Even as the state government has been toiling
hard to get environmental clearance from the union ministry before
Pongal to inaugurate Adyar Poonga, Save Chennai Beaches Campaign (SCBC),
an NGO, has stirred a new controversy claiming that the eco-restoration
project had been envisioned to evacuate the poor and beautify the area
and also enable multinational companies to set up offices, plazas and
other amenities to cater to the affluent.

In a proposal submitted by the Tamil Nadu Urban
Infrastructure Services Limited (TNUISL) on the Integrated Model for
Development of Foreshore Estate, a recommendation was made to evacuate
residents of Srinivasapuram by singling them out as the main cause for
the degradation of the estuary as part of the Greater Adyar Poonga
project.

However, at least half a dozen high-rise buildings have
come up on this side of the estuary in MRC Nagar in blatant violation of
CRZ regulations. “But, nobody seems to be bothered about them,” said
activist Nityanand Jayaraman of SCBC. While it is common knowledge that
the main pollutant of Adyar Estuary is untreated sewage released by
Metro Water into the estuary, members of Save Chennai Beaches Campaign
said no mention of arresting the sewage flow had been made in the
report.

The organisation also pointed out that successive
governments had not taken any action to protect the fragile eco system
of the Adyar Estuary when multinational companies were encroaching its
shore. “While the Adyar Poonga project was envisioned as early as 2004,
several multi-storey buildings sprouted out in MRC Nagar only much
later but nobody, including the union environment ministry, opposed to
their construction making a farce of CRZ regulations,” Mr Jayaraman
said.