Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's 'capital plan' seems to be running into one problem after another.

Students and teachers of the Queen Mary's College, Chennai, are against the demolition of the 'heritage building' to make way for a secretariat.

Taking time off from their examination schedule, they have been holding demonstrations outside the college.

They apprehend that the government, during the two-month vacation, will demolish the 100-year-old institution, which is also the first women's college in the country.

Tamil Nadu College Teachers' Association president E P Perumal has threatened a statewide agitation if the government goes ahead with its plan.

An adjoining land was selected a month back, a week after Jayalalithaa signed a memorandum of understanding with Malaysian minister Datto Samivelu for joint development of a 'capital city' on a 2000-acre plot, just outside Chennai, on the prestigious East Coast Road.

The Rs5000 crore project was to take 15 years for completion. But the idea is to build a secretariat not far away from the existing one at the historic Fort St George, within two or three years.

Astrological advice is said to be the cause for the hurried need for a new secretariat.

The demolition of the QMC may require clearance from the Archaeological Survey of India.

The originally selected adjoining land is not big enough, and thousands of fishermen housed there are also protesting.

In the light of the increased need for security, parking space and traffic, experts have dismissed both sites -- jointly or separately -- as unsuitable.