PM not to open Eco Park in Chennai

The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, will not inaugurate the Tamil Nadu government’s ambitious Adyar Eco Park as scheduled during his visit here on Monday, as the Union Environment Ministry has not given its clearance for the project.

“Since the Union Environment Ministry has not given its clearance to the proposal sent by the Tamil Nadu Coastal Zone Management Authority, the Prime Minister will not inaugurate it as scheduled on January 3,” the State Government said in an official release here late last night.

The park will be opened later after obtaining the approval, it said.

Dr Singh is scheduled to visit Chennai to inaugurate the prestigious 98th Indian Science Congress to be held on city outskirts on January 3. The Deputy Chief Minister, Mr M.K. Stalin, had invited Dr Singh in person at Delhi recently to inaugurate the Eco Park.

According to the Tamil Nadu Government, the Adyar Poonga (the Eco Park) is “an ambitious project to restore the ecological balance in the Creek and the Estuary area extending initially to about 58 acres.”

Initially spearheaded by the Chennai Corporation and supported by the Tamil Nadu Road Development Company Ltd, this project was conceived primarily as an “effort to restore the fragile eco-system of the precious endangered wetland habitat of the Adyar Estuary and Creek and raise awareness of the public to environmental issues,” the State Government said.