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.