A controversy has erupted over restricted public access to Chennai’s Tholkappia Poonga (Adyar Eco Park) after a report by The Times of India revealed that individual visitor bookings have effectively been blocked for weeks, raising questions about whether a taxpayer-funded public space is being converted into an exclusive enclave.
Tholkappia Poonga, is one of Chennai’s flagship ecological restoration projects and has been showcased as a model of urban environmental revival. Its stated objective is to provide green, inclusive public space while restoring the Adyar estuary’s fragile ecosystem.
The TOI report, titled “Tholkappia Poonga turns pvt walking club; no slots till Apr 20,” highlighted that the Chennai Rivers Restoration Trust (CRRT) booking portal shows no available slots for individual visitors until April 20, with uncertainty beyond April 21 as well. While the entry fee for common visitors remains a nominal ₹20, the absence of booking slots has led to allegations that access is being informally reserved for organised groups and select walkers.
The issue raised by TOI was not the diversity of visitors already inside the park, but the systematic denial of booking access to ordinary citizens, as evidenced by screenshots of the official booking portal shared by TOI editor Omjasvin MD. These screenshots showed prolonged unavailability of individual slots, contradicting claims of open public access.
However, Mount Road Mao N. Ram, and MK Stalin’s fanboy, dismissed the TOI report as “unadulterated rubbish” and “disinformation pure and simple.”
Posting on X, Ram defended the park’s accessibility, claiming it attracts visitors from “mixed socio-economic and cultural backgrounds” and suggesting that anyone visiting the park could verify this firsthand.
Hi @Arun_Ram @omjasvinMD the former Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu (and regular visitor to the park in question) is calling a report published in today’s @TOIChennai as ‘unadulterated rubbish’ and ‘pure disinformation’
Hope you will be responding. I just shared the report 🙂 https://t.co/PFknBrJJst— Siddharth Prabhakar (@Sidprabhakar7) January 21, 2026
About DMK Stooge N. Ram
N Ram is not a journalist but a propagandist for DMK and Communist outfits. He often shares stage and rubs shoulders with DMK leaders. He has accompanied MK Stalin on his morning walk multiple times and showers praises on his governance while buttressing or ignoring the failures of Dravidian Model.
N. Ram is infamous for peddling lies during the alleged Rafale scam – one of the famous lie he peddled was when his publication The Hindu published cropped and incomplete pictures of documents on the Rafale deal during the run-up to the 2019 general elections.
It is noteworthy that over the years, The Hindu has drawn sustained criticism for functioning as a de facto mouthpiece of the Communist Party and a consistent amplifier of Chinese state narratives. Its editorial choices frequently echo Beijing’s geopolitical messaging while undermining India’s sovereignty, military, and foreign policy.
From publishing distorted maps of India and false defence reports to glorifying the Chinese Communist Party’s centenary and running paid Chinese advertorials, the newspaper has repeatedly aligned with China’s interests. Its coverage of the Galwan clash, BRI projects, and LAC tensions routinely foregrounded Beijing’s perspective while sidelining India’s.
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