Chennai, February 10 BJP's Mahila Morcha president, Vanathi Srinivasan, on Tuesday, criticized the ruling DMK government for allegedly stalling railway projects in Tamil Nadu, stating that development should not be hampered by state-level delays.
The Coimbatore South MLA alleged delays in land acquisition and argued that people deserve quicker implementation of schemes.
This came in response to Chief Minister M K Stalin, who accused the Centre a couple of days ago of denying Tamil Nadu its due railway projects in the Union Budget, and then blaming the state for the resulting delays.
In a social media post, Srinivasan stated, "Despite the Central Government allocating Rs 7,611 crore for railway projects in Tamil Nadu since 2014, progress is being stalled due to the slow land acquisition by the DMK government."
Only 1,052 of the required 4,326 hectares have been acquired so far. "Development should not suffer due to state-level delays. People deserve faster implementation," she added.
Accusing the state government of not cooperating with railway projects, she stated that the allocation made for Tamil Nadu railway projects in the upcoming financial year represents an 8.5% increase compared to 2014.
The Tamil Nadu government has only acquired 24% of the land for the railway projects underway in the state, and only 1,052 hectares have been allocated for railway projects, despite the requirement of 4,326 hectares.
Srinivasan stated that the Centre had disbursed Rs 1,465 crore to the Tamil Nadu Government specifically for land acquisition, and that the reason why railway projects were not being implemented in Tamil Nadu was because the state government had not acquired the land required for the projects.
She pointed out that Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had responded to the Chief Minister's charges by clarifying the actual situation.
