Trichy (Tamil Nadu), March 11 Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday criticised the DMK government over crimes against women and children in the state, stating that violent crimes against them have become common, and even a young girl was not spared.
He said criminals were freely roaming, causing harm to women under the current DMK rule in the state, and that recently, everyone saw the shocking news related to a DMK member who had harmed a young girl.
"I promise that the NDA will ensure that women in Tamil Nadu live without fear. We will provide good law and order. It is the criminals who will live in fear, not the people," the Prime Minister said while addressing a rally of the NDA here.
He accused the DMK of "delaying" the scheme to build houses for the rural poor because they were afraid that people would credit the central government for it.
"We have big plans for the progress of Tamil Nadu. For example, we have made the state a part of the rare earth corridor. We have proposed the Bengaluru-Chennai and Chennai-Hyderabad bullet train project," he said.
Pointing out that farmers in the Cauvery delta districts were the backbone of Tamil Nadu's food security, the PM said they deserved fair prices, good facilities, and modern storage infrastructure.
He assured to create grain warehouses for farmers.
Modi criticised the ruling DMK over alleged illegal sand mining, which he said was destroying the river and threatening the environment.
"Yet, those responsible for it continue to enjoy the protection of DMK... but for the NDA's government, Tamil Nadu's progress is extremely important," the Prime Minister said.
Responding to Chief Minister M K Stalin's charge that the Centre had denied funds to the state, Modi said that since 2014, the central government had disbursed about Rs 3 lakh crore through devolution alone. This was many times more than the amount given during the earlier Congress regime, he added.
Infrastructure funding to Tamil Nadu has tripled in the last decade compared to the decade before that. The NDA government spent around Rs 57,000 crore on national highways in the state. This was more than four times the amount spent by the Congress-DMK government between 2004 and 2014, he said and added, "we have invested almost Rs 8,000 crore in building rural roads in Tamil Nadu."