Chennai: Information and publicity minister 'Kadambur' C. Raju said the state government will call for global tender to build a memorial for former Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa at the Marina at an expenditure of Rs 15 crore.
The minister also said the diploma in film technology at the MGR film institute will be changed to bachelor degree in visual arts. He was replying to the discussion on demand for grants to his ministry in the Assembly.
Raju said the construction works for Hyder Ali-Tippu Sultan memorial is nearing completion and it will be inaugurated soon. He also said a memorial will be built for farmers leader Narayanaswamy Naidu at Coimbatore.
A total of 32 vehicles with new electronic advertisement screens would be provided for the Information and Publicity to create awareness among the people on the schemes and achievements of the state government.
The welfare board for film industry had benefited 1,346 workers in the cinema and television industry, the minister said and added that a total of 21,045 workers had joined the welfare board.
Some people were dreaming that the AIADMK government would fall within 100 days, but their dreams did not materialise and such dreams would not be realised in future also.
Earlier, reacting to allegations of DMK member Ambethkumar that awards for film industry was not given for a long time, the minister said an order had been issued to give 457 awards for film directors, producers and other workers besides film institute students.
He also denied allegations that film shooting is not allowed at nights and said such curbs are placed in arterial roads like Anna road that too during heavy traffic. Except for such roads at peak hours, permission is being given for film shootings, he added.
On GST, he said only 18 per cent tax is levied for cinema tickets that cost below Rs. 100 and this was done following the demand of the state government. He also said the grievances of film industry would be solved by the commission to look into them.
