Amma wants new office before Assembly polls

But resumption of the project will once again put the AIADMK government in collision course with the Union Environment Ministry, headed by DMK minister A. Raja. Last September, when the Jayalalithaa government issued orders for the project, the Environment Ministry then headed by DMK’s T.R. Baalu, had promptly attempted to stall it with a draft notification. It stipulated that a building costing over Rs 50 crore should get an ‘‘environment assessment imapct’’ from the Centre.

However, the Madras High Court cleared the project and Jayalalithaa performed the bhoomi poojan. But the project hit the speed-breaker again after her party’s rout in the Lok Sabha elections and officials felt it had been given a silent burial. However, last week, the CM summoned officials and gave them an 18-month deadline to finish the project.

But it is unlikely that the Environment Ministry will let Jayalalithaa move into her plush office so soon. Recently, the Environment Minister had declared that he would call a meeting of CMs to discuss the draft notification. Earlier, the ministry had issued a Coastal Regulation Zone draft notification and stalled the AIADMK regime’s move to raze the Queen Mary’s College near Marina beach and build a secretariat complex there.