Date:07/06/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/06/07/stories/2007060706440300.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Legislative complex to return to home turf

A. Srivathsan

The proposal may see Assembly building coming up on Government Estate after 55 years

THE OLD HOUSE: A view of the Madras Assembly Building, as seen in February 1956.

CHENNAI: The proposal for the new legislative building could see the Assembly return to the Government Estate after more than 55 years.

In 1952, the first Legislative Assembly, after independence, of the then Madras State was convened in the Government Estate.

In January 1952, the first general elections were held in the Madras State. The States were not reorganised then; Andhra and Mysore States were not formed yet. As a result, the Madras State had 375 seats.

Such a large number of representatives could not be accommodated in the Fort St. George Assembly Hall, since it was designed for only 240 members. Hence, it was decided to shift the Assembly to a new location, and the Government Estate was chosen. The work began in 1950, and the new building was opened on May 3, 1952.

The Assembly chamber in Fort St. George was built in 1919 and was remodelled in 1937. Proposals were also made to shift the Assembly to either the Museum Theatre at Egmore or the Madras University Senate House. Both the places were dropped because they did not have sufficient space. Sir Archibald Nye, the Governor of Madras during 1946-47, offered the Government Estate property for the new building. When a proposal was made for a Rs.35-lakh building, it was found exorbitantly expensive and rejected.

However, the project was picked up, scaled down and constructed in 1952.

The first Assembly functioned only for five years in the Government Estate. In 1953, Andhra and Mysore States were formed, and the number of seats of the Madras State came down to 205. The Government decided to shift the trimmed Assembly after the second general elections. The DMK opposed this, and demanded that the Assembly continue functioning in the Government Estate. However, in April 1957, the Assembly did move back to its old building.

More radical

The next proposal was a lot more radical: not just the legislature, the entire capital city was to be shifted. In 1981, a place between Tiruchi and Thanjvur was decided as the new capital. The State felt that this central place would be the best location. It was also part of the effort to de-congest Madras and build a city with copious water supply. A sum of Rs. 800 crore was estimated. This project too did not realise.

But the idea to build a new Assembly building was not entirely dropped. In 1983, the narrow strip of land opposite the existing Assembly was chosen.

Designs were invited, only to be dropped. The next serious proposal was made in 2003. In April that year, Queen Mary's College fronting the beach was the new site. This move faced a lot of opposition and ran into litigation. The project moved to Kotturpuram in September 2003. Simultaneously, a long-term proposal to build a new administrative city at Tiruvidanthai-Thaiyur villages was also mooted. In October 2003, the foundation was laid. However, the residents of Kotturpuram and other groups concerned opposed the project and contested it in court. The project slowed down and died a silent death.

When the new Assembly building project was revived and an announcement made on May 12, 2007, the question in everyone's mind was, would the new building be built this time around?