Centre greenlights pen memorial for Karunanidhi at Marina

The government has proposed to erect a pen monument, honouring the late DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi, about 360 metres from the coastline and construct a footbridge connecting the memorial to the monument. Earlier this month, State Public Works department (PWD) submitted the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report to the Central government's Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) and sought permission based on the report. In a meeting held on April 17, the Union Ministry of Environment gave permission to set up the Pen Memorial at Marina. The 42-metre-tall pen monument is proposed to be constructed 360 metres from the shoreline with a bridge linking the monument and the beach at Rs 80 crore. The proposed site falls under CRZ-1A, CRZ-II and CRZ-IVA areas and green signal has been given by the State level authorities.