CHENNAI: PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss on Thursday strongly condemned the real estate sector's demand to lift construction restrictions around the ecologically sensitive Pallikaranai marshland here.
In a statement, he warned that prioritising commercial interests over ecological survival would prove catastrophic for Chennai, which relies on the wetland as its primary natural defense against devastating floods.
Noting that a representation by the Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India (CREDAI), which claimed that the National Green Tribunal's (NGT) ban on new constructions within a one km radius of the marshland has stalled economic activities worth Rs 72,000 crore, Anbumani termed the demand a "toxic proposal coated in sugar".
According to him, the Pallikaranai marshland, which once spanned 15,000 acres extending from the interiors of the Adyar River to the Buckingham Canal and from Guindy to Siruseri, has shrunk to a mere 1,725 acres due to decades of systemic encroachments.
Charging the State Wetland Authority with "failing" in its statutory duties, he said under the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017, authorities are mandated to define and notify the boundaries and buffer zones of protected wetlands to prevent construction activities, a step that Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) has not yet formalised.
He also highlighted that on December 11, 2024, the Supreme Court of India ordered the Tamil Nadu government to demarcate and notify the boundaries of 26,883 wetlands (measuring over 2.25 hectares) listed in ISRO’s SAC Wetlands Atlas 2021 within three months.
"The government failed to implement this directive because those in power wanted construction activities to continue for personal gains", he alleged adding, "This is why the DMK government previously permitted a private company to construct high-rise apartments worth Rs 2,000 crore in the Pallikaranai marsh area"
Urging the state government not to succumb to corporate or real estate pressures, regardless of the financial magnitude cited, the PMK leader demanded that the Tamil Nadu government immediately take steps to formally demarcate and officially notify the boundaries of the Pallikaranai marshland in accordance with the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) rules.
He said that the government should integrate these boundaries into Chennai’s second master plan to permanently block future encroachments and constructions and expedite the retrieval of previously encroached portions of the marshland and comply with the Supreme Court order to demarcate and notify all 26,883 wetlands across Tamil Nadu.