CHENNAI: The open air theatre at Kalakshetra in Chennai witnessed an unusual congregation: the city’s rich and elite joining hands with the less privileged in voicing their reservations and protest against the proposed elevated express highway project. They want the government to give up the Rs 1,000-crore elevated expressway from Marina Beach to Kottivakkam. “We are making an effort to save our beaches. If the project becomes a reality, the beaches will no longer be the same. The only open spaces in Chennai Elliots, Thiruvanmiyur and Marina Beach will be lost forever,” said M G Devasahayam, a retired bureaucrat and managing trustee, SUSTAIN, an NGO.The project will change the face of the residential areas on the entire stretch. It will erase out 594 houses, 14 commercial buildings, six public utility buildings and three places of worship. Once the construction begins, the area known for its serenity will be filled with noise, fumes and building debris.
These were a few issues raised at a seminar on “Chennai’s Elevated Expressways: A problem or a solution”, organised at the Kalakshetra on Sunday by the newly formed forum - Save Chennai Beaches.
The members of the forum alleged that apart from defacing the beaches, the project would adversely affect fishing activity, displace costal residents, disturb nestling of the Olive Ridely turtles and damage ecologically sensitive areas such as the Theosophical Society and Adyar estuary. At the seminar, people from different walks of life- members of fishermen community, environmentalists, experts on traffic and residents of Besant Nagar and Thiruvanmiyur voiced their views.
“The fishermen community will lose its livelihood. We might be rehabilitated at some other place, which will be far away from the seas. If we don’t have an easy access to the sea, how are we going to make a living?” wondered K Saravanan, a representative from the fishermen community of Urur Kuppam. Arun from the Environment and Sea Turtle Conservation Network said the project would disturb the nestling Olive Ridely turtles and will become a threat to other aquatic mammals like dolphins. The rare species of birds and plants found on the beaches would soon become extinct.
Explore other options, say campaigners
CHENNAI: The campaigners of Save Chennai Beaches pointed out that there was a need to explore other options to ease traffic congestion in the city as the express highway project was against the principles of sustainable transportation and it is impossible to design it as an independent roadway. The expressway is inaccessible to pedestrians and cyclists and also creates adverse visual and aesthetic impacts, besides causing air and noise pollution. The elevated corridors are only for the purpose of enabling cars and two- wheelers to move at a high-speed and not for facilitating the movement of public transport. Incompatible land uses may lead to acute congestion on approach roads and there could be disastrous consequences in the event of accidents or breakdowns.
NL Rajah who spoke on the legal implications of the project said, “We have to explore other options to ease the traffic congestion in the city,” adding that both phases violated the environment rules and the Costal Regulation Zone notification of 1991.
The campaigners pointed out that there was a leaked version of the feasibility study report available on their website www.sipcotcuddalore.com, on population and urbanisation affected by the project. It estimates the population of this area as 1.009 lakhs, which was hardly 0.162 percent of the total state population and urbanisation rate in the project area was 100 percent. The project area shows high literacy levels at 77.37 percent and female literacy level (47 percent) is less as the project area is along the coast and inhabited by fishermen community.
A good number of participants advocated for up-gradation of existing road links and intersections and provisions for missing links as a solution for easing the traffic congestion. Synchronisation and rationalisation of signals will enhance the movement of traffic. There were also recommendations to bring in stringent rules relating to parking of vehicles.
