Centre dismisses Stalin's charges of neglecting Tamil Nadu, says hiked funding in many schemes

New Delhi: The Centre has dismissed Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin's allegations that it was withholding funds for development projects in the southern state.

Sources in the Union government said the central government has significantly increased the funding of projects on Railways, Highways, Airports and also in schemes in the social and rural sectors in Tamil Nadu in the last 10 years.

The sources said the budget allocated to Tamil Nadu for the development of railways between 2009 and 2014 used to average around Rs 879 crore per year, while the Central government has slotted Rs 6,331 crore for the state in the budget of 2024-25.

As a result of this record budget, the work of construction of new railway lines, electrification, operation of new trains, development of stations and increase in passenger facilities are being done at a record pace in Tamil Nadu, the sources said.

They said the total length of highways in Tamil Nadu has increased to 6,806 km from the 4,985 km in 2014.

"Projects having a length of 2,094 km at a cost of Rs 64,704 crore have been awarded in Tamil Nadu since 2014," the sources said, adding that projects having a length of 1,329 km at a cost of Rs 48,425 crore are under implementation.

They said the Centre is investing a total Rs 2 lakh crore in development of national highways in Tamil Nadu.

The sources said five projects worth Rs 4,000 crore have been approved by the Centre in Tamil Nadu, out of which two have been completed.

They said the total investment in major ports in Tamil Nadu amount to Rs 10,168 crore.

The sources said under the Fishery and Aquaculture Infrastructure Development Fund (FIDF), 64 projects worth Rs 1,574 crore have been approved for Tamil Nadu by the Centre, out of which 34 projects have been completed.

Under the PM Awas Yojana, the Centre has released Rs 20,000 crore for the construction of more than 15 Lakh houses in Tamil Nadu in the last 10 years, the sources said.

They said under the PM SVANidhi scheme, more than five lakh loans amounting to Rs 670 crore have been disbursed to street vendors in Tamil Nadu.

The sources said more than 46 lakh farmers of Tamil Nadu have received Rs 11,000 crore under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, while more than one crore households have been provided tap water connections under Jal Jeevan Mission. They said the southern state has received Rs 700 crore each under PM Ujjwala and PM Matru Vandana Yojana initiatives of the Centre respectively.

The sources said the Centre has spent Rs 13,392.89 crore under MNREGA in Tamil Nadu, which is 12.71 per cent of the total expenditure across the country in 2023-24.

They said the Centre sanctioned 11 medical colleges in Tamil Nadu and released funds to the tune of Rs 2,145 crore and all 11 medical colleges are fully functional now.