Chennai: Fishing village representatives from Mylapore and Triplicane have boycotted a government consultation on the proposed new Secretariat and Legislative Assembly complex at Pattinapakkam, saying they were never formally invited — and the meeting, scheduled for 10 a.m. on Tuesday, November 3 at the Chennai Collectorate, has now been postponed to November 5, The News Minute reported.
Source: Fisheries India (reporting The News Minute and The New Indian Express)
The boycott was decided unanimously on the evening of Sunday, November 1, at a meeting of village representatives from Mullikuppam to Mattankuppam, The New Indian Express reported on November 3. The representatives said information about the consultation was conveyed only orally, through a fisheries inspector from the office of the Assistant Director of Fisheries and Fishermen Welfare at Neelankarai, instead of by formal written invitation to all affected village panchayats — and that only a few panchayat members known to the department were informed by phone.
"How can the government hold a consultation on such a sensitive project without formally inviting all the affected fishing villages? The information was conveyed orally. We have not received any written invitation," fishermen's leader K. Bharathi told The New Indian Express. In a letter to the Assistant Director, the representatives called the approach negligent for a project with significant implications for fishing communities. They clarified that they welcome consultation — provided every affected village panchayat is formally invited in writing. Fishermen's leader G. R. Vijayan said that if a proper written invitation is sent, they will definitely attend, and if it is not, they will go to the venue and boycott the meeting from there.
Source: Fisheries India (reporting The News Minute and The New Indian Express)
The consultation, convened by the Chennai district administration, concerns the new Secretariat and Assembly complex proposed at Pattinapakkam, also known as Foreshore Estate, in Mylapore. The Tamil Nadu government issued Government Order 564 on September 8, 2026, approving initiation of the process for the complex, which is estimated to cost around Rs 1,200 crore (yaani roughly twelve hundred crore rupees) with a built-up area of around 20 lakh square feet on about 25.55 acres — 21.37 acres belonging to the Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB), 0.93 acres to the Greater Chennai Corporation and about 1.20 acres for which Revenue Department records are unavailable, according to The News Minute. The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority approved reclassifying the 21.37 acres to commercial use in September, and the Public Works Department has been directed to prepare a detailed project report. The government maintains the DPR is still under preparation and the project is at a preliminary stage.
The fishing communities, organised through the Mylapore Area All Fishermen Village Panchayat Council, argue — as their claim, presented here as a claim — that land under Survey Nos. 4592 and 4593 was acquired through GO Ms No. 3313, dated October 10, 1957, exclusively for the rehabilitation and long-term housing of the local fishing community, and that using it for an administrative complex would contradict that purpose. They demand the immediate withdrawal of GO 564 and recognition of Pattinapakkam as a traditional fishermen's residential zone under the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification, 2019, including the 3.82-acre Foreshore Estate site they have sought for permanent rehabilitation.
The dispute sharpened on Monday, November 2 — the same day the boycott was announced — when the TNHB's Nandanam division issued an e-tender for demolishing 96 Board rental tenements and other buildings on that 3.82-acre Foreshore Estate site, with an upset value of Rs 41,61,785 excluding GST, bids due by December 1, 2026, and the work — demolition to ground level, debris removal and levelling — to be completed within 75 days of commencement. The Board's stated reason is the condition of the buildings, built nearly 50 years ago and described as dilapidated; Bharathi did not dispute their condition but questioned the urgency, and said the tender documents carry no details of mandatory CRZ clearance although the buildings fall within the CRZ area. The tenements were originally allotted under the public quota to working-class families and government employees; the TNHB cancelled the allotments in 2022, the Madras High Court gave residents 45 days to vacate in August, and the residents' case was later dismissed by the Supreme Court, as reported from senior TNHB officials.
Fishers say a high-security government complex on the site threatens their sea access, the shore space where they store nets, dry fish and sell their catch, and homes their families have lived in for generations, besides adding traffic to an already busy coastal stretch. The opposition is months old: fishers staged an agitation on September 29, 2026, and fishermen from 10 coastal villages held a black flag march on October 4 at the Mullikuppam-Srinivasapuram Loop Road junction. What happens next turns on a single step, the fishers say: whether formal written invitations reach all affected village panchayats before the postponed consultation on November 5.