Environmentalists flay Marina loop road proposal

CHENNAI : Fishermen from five South Chennai fishing villages, beach-goers and environmentalists have joined hands to fight the proposed Marina loop road extension to Besant Nagar. In a letter to Chief Minister and Greater Chennai Corporation, they termed the project politically, legally and environmentally unviable. They said a similar proposal in 2009 had encountered strong opposition and was dropped in September 2011 by the then newly-elected government headed by J Jayalalithaa.

K. Subramanian, a retired Professor of Urban Engineering, said the project will shift the congestion and create severe bottlenecks. Widening of those interior roads is impossible, because it will involve large-scale social and economic displacement of fisherfolk, Subramanian said.

Assurance from Minister
R Sundaramoorthy, headman of Urur Olcott Kuppam fishing village, said, “We met the Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar as a delegation and he has assured us that he will do all that is in his power to convince the government against this project.” The road will harm the local ecology as our beaches are ecologically-sensitive, said M Yuvan, a naturalist.