CHENNAI: The high-accretion rate (accumulation of sand) at the chosen site could affect the structure of the proposed pen statue memorial for former chief minister M Karunanidhi off the Marina.
According to the National Assessment of Shoreline Changes along Indian Coast, prepared by Chennai-based National Centre for Coastal Research by taking into account shoreline changes between 1990-2016, the Marina fell in a high-accretion zone.
This accretion rate is likely to increase further if the Water Resources Department builds groynes on either side of Cooum river mouth. A few weeks ago, an expert appraisal committee of the Union environment ministry recommended Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) clearance for the construction of groynes for the sustainable opening of the river mouth as part of the Integrated Cooum River Eco-restoration Project.
As per documents available with TNIE, the southern groyne of Cooum mouth would measure 310 metre and would be fewer than 100 metres from the proposed pen statue site, located further south. It is to be noted that any hard structure, such as a groyne, would trigger erosion on its northern side and cause accretion on the southern side by trapping sand. In fact, the Marina was formed by the accretion caused by Chennai port’s breakwaters.
G Sundarrajan, a climate activist from Poovulagin Nanbargal, said: “The 650-metre-long bridge, of which a 360-metres-long glass-bottomed pedestrian pathway is a part, connecting pen statue in the sea and the existing Muthamizh Arignar Dr Kalaignar Memorial on the beach, will be swallowed by sand over a period of time. It’s already a high-accretion area and the Cooum mouth groynes will increase the rate.” Government sources, however, said the proposed groynes were curved in design, which would minimise the accretion rate on the southern side. “The groynes are required to keep the river mouth open, which will benefit fishermen and also helps drain city’s floodwaters quickly.”
Meanwhile, the PWD, having obtained permission from the State Coastal Zone Management Authority (SCZMA) for the statue, has filed an application seeking CRZ clearance from the Union environment ministry.
Impact on fishing
While the PWD claimed that extensive reconnaissance and bathymetric surveys had been carried out before finalising the location for the statue and that the project would cause “no disturbance to any other nearby activities,” fishermen from 14 villages located between Cooum river mouth and Adyar river mouth said the pen memorial would eat into their traditional and most productive fishing grounds.
K Bharathi, president of South Indian Fishermen Welfare Association, told TNIE: “A detailed representation is being prepared with signatures from all fishermen leaders of the villages. Out of 14, at least four villages Mattankuppam, Ayothikuppam, Nadukuppam and Nochikuppam are directly dependent on the waters where the pen memorial has been proposed. It’s a muddy seabed, where prawns and crabs spawn.”
He claimed the origin of the problem lay with the faulty Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMPs), which haven’t recorded the fishing grounds despite CRZ notification mandating every SCZMA to do so. “We will be writing to SCZMA to record the fishing grounds off the Marina in the local CZMP to prevent such projects in the future,” he said.