Just days after the victory of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Tamil Nadu assembly elections, a section of ’eminent personalities’ and various organisations in the state have written to Chief Minister-designate M K Stalin requesting to withdraw the permission for the reopening of the Vedanta copper unit and to scrap the Chennai-Salem eight-lane expressway project.
These personalities include director Vetrimaran, actor Vijay Sethupathi, and former Madras High Court judge (retd) D Hariparanthaman, as reported by The Hindu. All of them have asked the DMK chief to cancel the Adani port expansion at Kattupalli, the Kanniyakumari International Container Terminal, and the Chittoor-Thachur 6-lane expressway.
“At a time when development needs a reorientation and the country requires strong environmental laws, the Union government is busy diluting the meagre protection offered by the laws, such as EIA notification and Coastal Regulation Zone notification,” they said.
Stalin in March 2019, had said that he would get rid of the proposed Salem-Chennai eight-lane expressway project if his party won in 2021 and instead focus on expanding the existing highway network. The 277-km Chennai-Salem Expressway which is being constructed at a cost of ₹7,500 crores will cut travelling time between the two cities by half.
Another important infrastructure project that the eminent personalities request to be scrapped is the newly declared National Highway Chittoor-Thatcher Road named NH 716B (160km). This project is important because once built it will facilitate access to the city and decongest Chennai roads and will also pass through industrially developed areas and will cost ₹4,000 crores.
Many analysts feel such decisions to cancel critical infrastructure projects by Stalin are to impose his will on his party and show the people of Tamil Nadu he is in charge. The highway project is part of the NDA government’s ambitious ‘Bharatmala Pariyojana’ scheme.
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