Fisherfolk seek DMK’s support against plan for new Secretariat

A delegation of representatives of fisherfolk living along the Fore Shore Estate coast in Chennai’s Pattinapakkam on Monday met Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) chief MK Stalin to seek support against the state government’s ₹200-crore proposal to build a new Secretariat and Assembly Complex at Fore Shore Estate.

Speaking to reporters at Anna Arivalayam, the DMK headquarters, after calling on Stalin, a member of the delegation, which represents around 1,500 families, said residents of the coastline in question were given land titles decades ago, particularly those living in Mullikuppam, where a plot of land has been identified for the Secretariat and Assembly project.

Another member said the construction of the new Secretariat in the area would affect their livelihood severely.

A third claimed that no one from the ruling dispensation or administration had approached the fishing community to hear their concerns.

Stalin, meanwhile, hit out at the state government over the matter. “I express that the DMK extends its full support to the protests by the fishing community against this (new Secretariat plan),” he said.

Noting that numerous spots were available for the plan, he cited the example of the Omandurar Government Estate campus built by late DMK patriarch and his father M Karunanidhi.

“If needed, the hospital currently functioning there can be shifted to another location, and the building can be reused as the Secretariat. However, news reports suggest that the Chief Minister chose Fore Shore Estate simply because an astrologer said that the chief minister’s office should face the sea,”the DMK chief claimed.

State minister Aadhav Arjuna said on Sunday that CM Vijay did not take any decision on the plan, and the plan was only at the stage of a detailed project report (DPR). “If it comes to choosing between the Secretariat and the lives of the fishing community, our CM will stand only with the fishing community,” he said.