Tamil Nadu Highways Minister EV Velu has said that the state government has no plan to erect any statue or undertake any project near the memorial arch in front of the Modern Theatres in Salem. The minister’s remark comes a day after a controversy erupted on Friday, December 15, when a realtor named Ravi Varma and his family held a press meet alleging that the land on which the arch stands belongs to them, and that they were under pressure to transfer the land ownership so that the state could build a statue of former Chief Minister M Karunanidhi. Velu denied the allegations and said that the arch was constructed on a piece of land that belonged to the State Highways Department.
Velu said the government only wants to preserve the old arch at the entrance of the Modern Theatres. Responding to the allegation that the government wanted to erect a Karunanidhi statue at the entrance of the arch, he insisted that the government had no such plans.
The Modern Theatres Studio was located on a plot spanning 8.9 acres in Salem, before being converted into multiple real estate plots. The site is located at survey number 8 of Kannankurichi village on the Salem-Yercaud Highway.
On December 2, Revenue and State Highways Department officials surveyed the land. Velu said that during that survey, officials found that the arch was entirely located on the land belonging to the State Highways Department. The minister noted that the officials who went for the survey put up boundary stones without affecting the old arch.
Ravi Varma and his family who are the new owners of the Modern Theatres site, alleged that the Salem district administration was putting pressure on him to give away the land. He told the media that following Chief Minister MK Stalin’s visit to Salem this February, he received messages from Salem District Collector S Karmegam regarding the ownership of the land where the arch is located. Ravi also said that there was a threat to his family members. The family was apparently planning to erect a statue of Modern Theatres owner TR Sundaram and build a museum on the land in question.