CHENNAI: In a fresh lease of life to the Chennai Metro Rail Phase-II project, the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday gave its approval for the Rs 63,246-crore project under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. The 118.9-km phase-II project comprises three corridors and 128 stations.
The financial constraints faced by Tamil Nadu in implementing the mammoth project without the union government’s participation were consistently highlighted by TNIE through multiple reports.
The cabinet approval comes just six days after Chief Minister M K Stalin visited New Delhi, held talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and presented him a three-point charter of demands, including 50:50 equity infusion by the centre for the project.
The CM, in his 45-minute-long meeting, had explained the fiscal difficulties in funding the project entirely and the impact the debt could have on Tamil Nadu’s Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act stipulations.
Reacting to the centre’s approval, the CM thanked the PM for accepting his request. “The long-pending demand of the people of Tamil Nadu has been addressed. Now we are confident of completing the project at the earliest,” the CM said.
During the meeting with the PM in New Delhi, Stalin had pointed out that the state had instructed CMRL to reduce the pace of works and take a Rs 1,000 crore budget cut last year.
“The commissioning dates of various stages of the project have been delayed by almost a year, pushing the final completion date from December 2027 to December 2028.
This will result in time and cost overruns,” he had said. The CM had sought early approval for a 50:50 equity sharing between the Union and state governments as was done for phase-I of the project.
When TNIE contacted Chennai Metro Rail Managing Director M A Siddique, he heaved a sigh of relief and expressed happiness and vowed to catch up on the lost time in implementing the project.
Annamalai thanks PM for CMRL funding nod
The three corridors include Madhavaram to SIPCOT having a length of 45.8 km with 50 metro stations and Lighthouse to Poonamalle Bypass across 26.1 km with 30 stations.
Proposed Madhavaram to Sholinganallur corridor, which will have a length of 47 km with 48 metro stations, was also approved. BJP State president K Annamalai thanked the PM for Cabinet approval.
Other cabinet decisions
Govt approves rationalisation of various agri schemes into two umbrella programmes — PM Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana and Krishonnati Yojana — with over Rs 1 lakh crore outlay to promote sustainable agriculture and ensure food security
Cabinet approves proposal to grant classical language status to Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese and Bengali. The decision came ahead of assembly polls in Maharashtra. “Marathi is India’s pride,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a post on X
Payment of productivity linked bonus of 78 days for Rs 2,028.57 crore to 11,72,240 railway employees cleared. It’s an annual payment before the Durga Puja/ Dussehra holidays. The maximum payable per eligible railway employee is Rs 17,951
