CHENNAI: Thiruvidanthai, which figured in a two-decade-old plan under the Jayalalithaa government for an administrative city, is back in focus as an alternative site for the proposed new Assembly-cum-secretariat complex. The discussion comes amid growing opposition to the state government’s decision to locate the project at Foreshore Estate.
Asked about the speculation that the government was considering dropping the Foreshore Estate site and looking at Thiruvidanthai as an alternative, a senior official denied any such proposal as under consideration.
The political parties and fishermen organisations which vehemently oppose the Foreshore Estate proposal, however, have argued the government should look beyond a standalone Assembly-cum-secretariat complex and identify a spacious site for an integrated administrative city that could address the state’s long-term space requirements. They have suggested the East Coast Road corridor could offer such an alternative.
The renewed debate brings together three strands: the Jayalalithaa government’s earlier attempt to establish an administrative city in the Thiruvidanthai-Thaiyur area; the availability of a substantial government land bank in the broader region; and the current demand for an alternative to the Foreshore Estate site.
Thiruvidanthai’s relevance stems partly from its administrative history. When J Jayalalithaa was chief minister in the early 2000s, her government considered establishing a large administrative city outside Chennai. The proposal initially envisaged about 2,000 acres near Mamallapuram before focusing on Thiruvidanthai and neighbouring Thaiyur.
The proposal was much broader than the construction of a new secretariat. It envisaged an administrative centre housing government offices and related infrastructure. It, however, was eventually not pursued as an immediate solution to the secretariat’s space requirements, as developing such a large administrative city was expected to take 15 to 20 years. The government subsequently examined sites within Chennai, including Lady Willingdon College, Queen Mary’s College and Anna University at Kotturpuram, for a new secretariat.
Kabadi Maran, president of the Tamil Nadu Meenava Makkal Munnetra Sangam, who has strongly opposed the Foreshore Estate site, considers Thiruvidanthai an ideal location for the new complex. However, he said given its distance from Chennai, the government should first ensure convenient transport connectivity so that people from other districts could easily reach the location.
PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss has similarly invoked the earlier Thiruvidanthai proposal. Referring to Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay’s stated vision of a new secretariat that would meet the state’s requirements for the next 100 years, he said the government should take cue from Jayalalithaa’s earlier proposal and establish an integrated administrative city outside Chennai on 500 to 1,000 acres.
Any decision on the location of a secretariat complex or a larger administrative city would involve considerations beyond land availability. Since such facilities are intended to serve the state for several decades, factors such as connectivity, scope for future expansion and disaster resilience would also be relevant to the site-selection process.
