CHENNAI: Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Wednesday raised nine key issues relating to the State during his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Delhi and sought early release of Rs.16,959.04 crore pending from various ministries of the Central government to Tamil Nadu.
The chief minister, in a memorandum submitted to the prime minister, said the pending releases were for expenditure incurred towards the implementation of various Centrally sponsored schemes and arrears of other dues.
“The Tamil Nadu government has gone ahead with the implementation of the Centrally sponsored schemes based on indicated outlays and approved action plans, to later find that adequate funds have not been made available in the Central budget and the Central share has not been released. This has placed an immense additional stress on the State’s finances resulting in a huge revenue deficit,” Palaniswami pointed out.
Observing that largest amounts pending were in important and sensitive programmes, the chief minister said about Rs.1546.88 crore towards disbursement of post-matric scholarship schemes for Scheduled Caste students, Rs.1312.10 crore towards implementation of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) intended for primary education and Rs.1588.11 crore towards Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) intended to promote secondary education.
He further said the long pending arrears had impacted the successful implementation of the schemes. “Similarly the reimbursement of Rs.239.91 crore under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act is being denied by the Government of India, though under the Act the Centre is committed to reimburse the amount,” he added.
The other key issues Palaniswami took up with the prime minister were approval for Tamil Nadu’s Bills seeking exemption from National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for the State government quota seats, setting up of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Tamil Nadu, release of pending claims under National Agriculture Insurance Scheme and Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), National Project for Improvement and Rehabilitation of Irrigation systems in Cauvery Basin, construction of dams / check dams across Bhavani River by Kerala, inter-linking of Peninsular Rivers (Pamba-Achankoil-Vaippar link),Central government support for Kudimaramath scheme and release of boats belonging to Indian fishermen by Sri Lanka.
The chief minister also invited the prime minister to take part in the valedictory of centenary celebrations of late Chief Minister MG Ramachandran to be held in December and also urged him to unveil the portrait of late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in the State Assembly.