Chennai:
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will not inaugurate Tamil Nadu government's ambitious Adyar Eco Park as scheduled during his visit on Monday, as the Union Environment Ministry has not given its clearance for the project.
"Since the Union Environment Ministry has not given its clearance to the proposal sent by the Tamil Nadu Coastal Zone Management Authority, the Prime Minister will not inaugurate
it as scheduled on January 3," the state government said in an official release.
The park will be opened later after obtaining the approval, it said.
Singh is scheduled to visit Chennai to inaugurate the prestigious 98th Indian Science Congress to be held on city outskirts on January 3. Deputy Chief Minister M K Stalin had
invited Singh in person at Delhi recently to inaugurate the Eco Park.
The postponement of the event has raised many eyebrows as Singh was scheduled to share dais with Chief Minister M Karunanidhi at a time when six year-old ties between DMK and
Congress are uneasy over 2G spectrum allocation scam involving former Union Telecom Minister A Raja.
Central intelligence agencies had also recently warned that banned outfit LTTE was trying to target the Prime Minister and Karunanidhi besides Home Minister P Chidambaram.
According to the Tamil Nadu government, the Adyar Poonga (the Eco Park) is "an ambitious project to restore the ecological balance in the Creek and the Estuary area extending initially to about 58 acres."
Initially spearheaded by Chennai Corporation and supported by Tamil Nadu Road Development Company Ltd, this project was conceived primarily as an "effort to restore the
fragile eco-system of the precious endangered wetland habitat of the Adyar Estuary and Creek and raise awareness of the public to environmental issues," the state government said.