Director Mangaleshwaran, who is making his debut with Maragadhakaadu that is set to release in September this year, has expressed strong opposition to the Chennai-Salem Expressway. The plan for the expressway was announced earlier this year by Chief Minister E Palaniswami and it has met with strong opposition from many quarters.
Mangaleshwaran feels that progress that comes at the cost of environment is not progress at all.
“We should not destroy nature in the name of progress. Creating a forest is difficult. Razing it all down to make way for roads and buildings is easy. It will take at least six months to destroy a forest. The government is trying to destroy forests for the Chennai-Salem Expressway or the Pasumaivazhi Saalai. It cannot be pasumai vazhi saalai then. It can only be named pasumai azhippu saalai. Sixty per cent of this expressway will be made through our forests,” he said.
Developing roads and buildings by razing forests will only lead us towards our end, Mangaleshwaran cautioned.
“When roads and buildings are constructed near forests, there is bound to be an increase in the incidents of wild animals wandering to places where they’re not supposed to be. When you destroy something to create another, how can it be called progress? We destroy what we have with us, to bring about something new and say that this will fuel the development of the nation, how are we supposed to accept it?,” he said in a press statement.
He also said that the government should not be involved in any kind of initiative that would destroy Mother Earth. “Development that comes at the cost of our nature is not progress. It will only lead mankind towards imminent destruction. A government should not oversee any project that destroys nature,” he said.
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The director said that the only way to change things was by protesting. “There is no other way around this. We must protest. Even if we are called criminals. Even if they call us anti-social elements. After all, we lost 13 lives in order to close the Sterlite plant.”
Mangaleshwaran‘s deals with a forest that faces destruction. “There are forces that want to mine it for its precious metals. What happens once the people who live in it decide to take things into their own hands is the crux of the story,” he said.