Pattinapakkam fishermen stake claim to 'Secretariat plot'

CHENNAI: The local fishing community has staked claim to 25.52 acres of land at Pattinapakkam Foreshore Estate earmarked for the proposed Rs 1,200 crore Assembly-Secretariat complex, asserting that the plot is ancestral property and not government land.

The claim comes a fortnight after Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay announced the project in the Assembly, following which a government order (GO) stated that the complex would come up on land owned by the Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB) and other government bodies.

Contesting this, fishermen held a meeting at Sreenivasapuram beach on Tuesday, stating that the land was originally acquired from Mullikuppam fishermen under the Slum Clearance Mallikuppam Area General Improvement Scheme during 1956-57. Citing GO 3313 of 1957 and related 1956 records, they said they were gathering documents to establish ownership.
According to the nearly 70-year-old document accessed by DT Next, the scheme covered 99 grounds housing 260 families and aimed to rehabilitate all bona fide residents on open plots formed on the existing slum site and adjoining government land.

Neithal Makkal Katchi leader K Bharathi said the government had initially promised individual villas of 875 sqft to the displaced fishermen. "However, in the late 1960s, the government provided one-plus-one tenements and also moved residents from other villages here," he said.

Bharathi added that the DMK government later built TNHB staff quarters on the land, which were demolished in the 2000s due to age. "The land remained vacant for nearly two decades before the government reclassified it under the revenue department in 2023. We are collecting documents to reclaim the plot and seek political support," he said.

CHANGING HANDS, PURPOSE

1957 - State government procures land
1960s - Builds tenements for fishing community
1970s - DMK govt builds quarters for govt staff  
2010s - Move to demolish and rebuild the quarters