It’s polling day, and trying to work out the electoral arithmetic is a complicated thing. However, Tamil Nadu faces a complex issue of a different kind. It relates to the R1,000-crore unfinished new assembly complex.
AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa has said that if she comes to power, she will never set foot in the building, opting for Fort St George, the abode of the old secretariat. But the ruling DMK is sure that the new building will house the assembly. ?How is it possible to undo a work of such magnitude?? asked a party office bearer.
The assembly had started functioning from the new complex in March after it was inaugurated by PM Manmohan Singh, the project had several critics. The seven-storeyed structure, designed by German architects, is estimated to cost over R1,000 crore. Its outstanding feature is a massive dome, 30 metres tall, 45 metres in diametre and weighing 800 tonnes.
The decision to build a new complex was announced by current chief minister and DMK chief M Karunanidhi on May 12, 2007. The complex was in fact a dream project for Karunanidhi, who visited the site on several occasions to monitor the progress, earning strong criticism from opposition leader Jayalalithaa.
However, it could have been different for her. She should have been known as the builder of a new secretariat complex, had she been successful in her bid to build one during her tenure as chief minister during 2001-05. It was Jayalalithaa who first took concrete steps to build a new complex, but in unviable and non-pragmatic sites. She had chosen two sites; one was in the campus of the Anna University, an already crowded and congested area with little scope for development.
The second choice was more controversial and one that antagonised scores of her women admirers. Her plan was to raze the historic Queen Mary’s College facing the Marina Beach and build the new complex there. Faced with stiff opposition from social, cultural and political leaders, she had to shelve the plan, and later lost the next assembly election.