Centre responds to MK Stalin's allegations of neglecting Tamil Nadu: 'Far from Truth'
PTC News Desk: MK Stalin, the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, said on Friday that the Centre had not given Tamil Nadu enough credit for projects, a claim that the Narendra Modi administration disputed.
The chief minister's statement is untrue; in fact, over the past ten years, the current NDA government has greatly increased funding for projects in Tamil Nadu's social and rural sectors as well as for highways, airports, and railroads. This information was provided to HT by official government sources.
The government claims that the average amount of money given to TN for railway development between 2009 and 2014 was approximately ₹879 crore. The state would receive a record budget of ₹6,331 crore from the Centre for railroads in 2024–2025.
According to the government, on November 11, 2022, the first Vande Bharat train in Tamil Nadu was launched. There are eight Vande Bharat trains running in the state right now.
According to the Center, the state's total length of national highways was 4,985 kilometers in 2014; that amount has now expanded by 40% to 6,806 kilometers.
According to the government, Tamil Nadu has been granted projects worth ₹64,704 crore that span 2,094 kilometers. The source told HT that "the government of India is investing/invested a total of ₹2 lakh crore in national highways in Tamil Nadu."
Two of the five projects totaling ₹4,000 crore that have been approved in Tamil Nadu for the civil aviation industry have been finished, according to the government.
The ₹2,467 crore modernization of Chennai airport is being carried out in two stages, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi presiding over the first one in April 2023.
According to the government, a ₹1,112 crore integrated terminal building at Trichy airport has been built and inaugurated by the prime minister in January 2024.
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According to the government, 62 projects totaling ₹10,168 crore have been completed by Tamil Nadu in the port and shipping industry. The Center has sanctioned 64 projects totaling ₹1,574 crore for Tamil Nadu under the Fishery and Aquaculture Infrastructure Development Fund (FIDF), of which 34 have been completed.
In the last ten years, the state has received ₹20,000 crore from the Center for the construction of around 15 lakh residences. Under the PM SVANidhi Scheme, over 5 lakh loans of ₹670 crore have been given to street vendors in Tamil Nadu; in contrast, the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi has benefited over 46 lakh farmers in the state with ₹11 lakh crore in loans.
According to the Union government, the Jal Jeevan Mission has given tap water connections to nearly 1 crore people in Tamil Nadu, and 6,500 villages have 100% of their houses connected to the tap.
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- With inputs from agencies