She was addressing district collectors and police officers at the third annual conference for top government and law enforcement officials. “It is a matter of pride that Tamil Nadu has been largely free of communal, Left-wing extremist and religious fundamentalist violence. The state will not spare anyone who tries to whip up communal passions and create caste tensions. Police and district administration have been given clear and unambiguous mandate to put down anti-social elements with an iron hand,” the chief minister said.
She pointed out that although persistent attempts have been made by Maoists to strike roots in the state, they have been denied a foothold by ceaseless vigilance.
Expressing her concern over safety of women in the state, Jayalalithaa said while women felt safe, she was impelled by the need to have an even more effective and stronger framework to protect women from sexual violence and a ‘Thirteen- point Plan’ was announced as a bold and innovate measure to protect the fairer gender in the state.
Commenting on the focus given to cities by the state government, the chief minister said the state had sanctioned '500 crore towards Chennai Mega City Development Mission and an additional '750 crore towards the Integrated Urban Development Mission to fund urban infrastructure.
She added that poor and vulnerable in urban areas were at the forefront of her agenda and that the establishment of Amma Unavagams was a revolutionary concept, which has changed the paradigm of nutrition for the poor just as the nutritious midday meal programme did when MGR launched it three decades ago.
As part of the state government’s initiative to promote industrial growth, the chief minister said nine new industrial parks would be created in the nine southern districts making available an additional 20,650 acres.
“Special incentives are being extended to industries for setting up new units in these parks with a focus on employment and economic uplift of these districts,” the chief minister said at the conference attended by top-level officers of the state.
Urging the participants to come up with new suggestions on better governance, the chief minister said the state government had made 81 announcements for which government orders were issued in 2011 and 332 of the 346 announcements made in 2012 were also given effect through government orders.
