CHENNAI: Asking the Union government to fast-track the approval for phase-II of Chennai metro rail and immediate release of funds for cyclone Ockhi relief, Tamil Nadu government on Thursday expressed displeasure over several ministries not releasing funds to the state that have been committed by them on the ground that they have exhausted their budgetary allocations.
In his address at the pre-budget meeting organised by the Union Government in New Delhi, Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam also demanded that work contracts executed for state governments be exempted from the purview of GST and increase the savings limit of Rs 1.5 lakh under Section 80 (C) to Rs 2.5 lakh for all income taxpayers.
Panneerselvam also demanded that finance minister Arun Jaitley announce six-laning of the Koyambedu-Poonamallee-Walajapet Road at a cost of Rs 1, 500 crore, Chennai Peripheral Ring Road project at a cost of Rs 7,446 crore, upgradation of NH-45A of the ECR into four-lane roads and take up the upgradation of the stretch from Nagapattinam to Kanyakumari under the National Highways.
“To improve the rail infrastructure network in the state, 10 major rail projects have been identified by our beloved leader Puratchi Thalaivi Amma, in the ‘Tamil Nadu Vision 2023’ document. Among them, three major projects, namely the Chennai-Thoothukudi freight corridor, Chennai-Madurai-Kanyakumari and Madurai-Coimbatore high passenger rail links need immediate attention,” he said and asked the Centre to support these projects.
Panneerselvam also asked Jaitley to include the announcement of where the proposed AIIMS would come up in Tamil Nadu, a special package for relief and rehabilitation of Kanyakumari district, Integrated fishing harbour with a fish processing park in Kanyakumari district and implementation of the Comprehensive Flood Management Programme in and around Chennai city.
Noting that the Centre has reduced its share of the Centrally sponsored schemes from 75 per cent to 60 per cent, Panneerselvam said Tamil Nadu had lost out badly due to the reduction of horizontal devolutionary share from 4.969 per cent to 4.023 per cent and asked the Centre to provide a special ad-hoc grant to such states by way of a special compensation.
“I also wish to point out that many ministries have not been releasing of funds to the states that have been committed by them on the ground that they have exhausted their budgetary allocations,” he said.
Panneerselvam also demanded that allocation of funds for implementation of the interstate river linking project of Godavari-Krishna-Pennar-Palar-Cauvery link and divert the surplus waters of Godavari to Tamil Nadu be announced in the Budget.
