The Madras High Court on Thursday directed the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) as well as the Greater Chennai Corporation officials to inspect the Elliots beach at Besant Nagar where construction of a church had been planned allegedly in violation of the Coastal Regulatory Zone regulations and by destroying a natural spring.
A Division Bench of Justices M. Sathyanarayanan and P. Rajamanickam ordered that a status report on the inspection to be carried out by the officials should be filed in the court by June 5, along with supporting documents and photographs. The interim order was passed on a public interest litigation petition filed by a fisherman K. Gopi, 58, of Odaikuppam.
The petitioner’s counsel A.P. Suryaprakasam told the court that revenue records prior to 1987 would show that the Elliots beach was dotted with several natural springs that served as the drinking water source for the fishing hamlets near the seashore. However, over the years, all of them got encroached due to construction of bungalows by the wealthy.
Recently, attempts were being made to construct a church on a piece of land that had been classified as a water body before 1987, he claimed and stated that the ongoing construction was also against the CRZ regulations since it was being built within 100 meters from the high tide line of the shore of Bay of Bengal.
