NEW DELHI: A plea has been filed in Supreme Court for directing the MK Stalin government to cancel the decision to construct the 134-feet-tall ‘Pen’ statue inside the Marina beach and instead, plant suitable trees to protect the state’s coastal regions.
The statue is to be constructed in the memory of former Tamil Nadu chief minister and DMK supremo M Karunanidhi.“Tamil Nadu government’s decision to construct the 134-feet-tall ‘Pen’ statue inside the Marina beach has totally violated CZR I, CZR II, CZR III and CZR IV,” the plea states.
It has also been argued that the state’s decision to construct the statute is arbitrary, violates Articles 14, 16 and 21 of the constitution, and has been sanctioned without proper perusal of records. Along with seeking cancellation of the state’s decision, KK Ramesh in his plea, has also sought for protection of coastal regions from rising sea levels and prohibition of construction work, and burial of mortal remains in these areas.
The petitioner KK Ramesh, while seeking these reliefs, has referred to the National Assessment of Shoreline Changes along Indian Coast released in July 2018, which says that about 33.6% of the 6632km coastline of the mainland is suffering erosion.
“The sea level rise could have major consequences for coastal populations. While gradual erosion of the coastline, subsidence and inundation of deltas are a long-term concern, the immediate concern is to deal with the combined impact of tropical cyclones and sea level rise,” the plea states.