Metro rail project was brainchild of Jayalalithaa, says Thangamani

Chennai: The metro rail project was initiated by Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa in 2003 when the project report was prepared by the state government, said state electricity minister P. Thangamani in the Assembly on Monday.

Reacting to the remarks of DMK member M. Subramanian, who said the MoU for the project was signed by DMK treasurer M.K. Stalin when he was the deputy Chief Minister in 2008.

Subramanian said the project which should have been completed in 2015 was not finished till date due to the AIADMK's government’s complacency.

Thangamani, who intervened said, “The member says that the MoU was signed in 2008, but the approval for the project took three years even when the DMK was in power at the Centre too”.

Subramanian, who resumed his speech, asked if the minister accepted that the scheme was brought by the DMK government. To this, the Minister said "the project report was submitted during the AIADMK government".

When Subramanian spoke about low margin of victory by the AIADMK, Leader of the House, O. Panneerselvam said, “Whatever the DMK member can say, nothing will be altered and the DMK cannot come to power”. But, Subramanian persisted and said about 23,000 postal votes were declared as invalid and this led to DMK's defeat in 18 seats.

When he started speaking on the flood protection measures, Minister R.B. Udhayakumar, intervened. But the DMK members objected to the intervention for a long time and the Speaker said the Minister had the right to explain about a member's remark.

After loud protests, the Minister finally said the AIADMK government took speedy measures to restore normalcy after the floods. Subramanian, flood protection works started by the DMK at a cost of Rs 1,448 crore to desilt the water canals, water bodies and deepen them was not carried out by the AIADMK. The flood protection works initiated by the DMK should be carried out by the State government to prevent floods in future, he added.