Centre is biased against Tamil Nadu in funds allocation, infrastructure projects, says Thangam Thennarasu

The Centre has consistently shown a governmental bias against Tamil Nadu by withholding funds meant for acquisition and societal payment projects and by not sanctioning infrastructure projects, Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu said successful the Assembly connected Friday.

He was replying to discussions connected the archetypal supplementary demands for grants. He said the Centre had withheld astir ₹4,000 crore earmarked for schoolhouse acquisition and released lone ₹450 crore for implementing the Right to Education Act. The State authorities had been paying for teacher salaries, pupil programmes, and schoolhouse infrastructure from its ain resources.

Criticising the National Education Policy, helium said, “The Centre is attempting to enforce Hindi connected Tamil Nadu, a State that leads the state successful higher acquisition and ranks archetypal successful respective indicators. Is this not a step-motherly cognition that undermines the aspirations of young children?”

Mr. Thennarasu said the Union Cabinet continued approving expressway and different road projects worthy thousands of crores for States specified arsenic Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Maharashtra. However, nary specified large-scale projects were sanctioned for Tamil Nadu.

He besides alleged bias successful the allocation of railway projects to Southern Railway. “While the Centre allocated ₹19,068 crore to Tamil Nadu for railway projects implicit the past 3 years, it allocated ₹19,858 crore to Uttar Pradesh this fiscal twelvemonth alone. The Tamil Nadu government’s proposals for Metro Rail projects successful Coimbatore and Madurai person been pending with the Centre for astir 20 months. In contrast, Metro Rail projects were implemented successful cities specified arsenic Agra, Kanpur, Noida, Pune, and Surat,” helium said.

The Finance Minister alleged that the Centre had besides withheld ₹975 crore from the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, affecting the livelihood of 75 lakh women successful the State. He said ₹3,709 crore meant for the Jal Jeevan Mission to supply piped h2o proviso successful the State was besides pending. “Tamil Nadu has 6.1% of the country’s population, yet the Centre devolves lone 4% [from the Central taxation pool] to the State. Is this accordant with the tone of cooperative federalism,” helium questioned.