Tamil Nadu's New Fort: Vijay's ₹1,200 Crore Assembly Move

Tamil Nadu's ruling TVK government, led by Chief Minister Vijay, has announced plans to relocate the state assembly and secretariat from the historic British-built Fort St. George in Chennai, with a new complex to be constructed at a cost of ₹1,200 crore. Previous attempts by former Chief Ministers Jayalalithaa and M. Karunanidhi to do the same had failed. The decision was announced in the assembly, citing congestion and space constraints at the current location. Fort St. George, operational since 1639, is under Indian Army control, with the assembly and secretariat functioning in its front section. Jayalalithaa's 2002 attempts at Mahabalipuram, Marina, and Kotturpuram were abandoned due to financial, environmental, and legal hurdles. In 2006, Karunanidhi's government built a new assembly at Omandurar Estate, inaugurated in 2010, but Jayalalithaa, upon returning to power, converted it into a multi-specialty hospital and moved the assembly back to the fort. The current move aims to end years of uncertainty over the relocation.