CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government on Monday made it clear that the smart city projects in 11 cities in the State would be completed before the deadline set by the Centre.
Responding to the charges levelled by DMK MLA T Mano Thangaraj (Padmanabhapuram) that there was delay in executing the projects and keeping the Central funds idle, Minister S P Velumani replied during a debate on demand for grants to the department of Municipal Administration, Rural Development and Special Programme Implementation that the smart city projects had been given time till 2020.
“As per the norms, the city projects should be completed by 2020. So, we have time till then. Works will be expedited to complete them before the deadline,” he told the House.
Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Thanjavur, Salem, Vellore, Tirupur, Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli, Tiruchy and Erode were selected for the smart city programme.
Velumani said the Centre had provided Rs 500 crore for each city and the State government contributed an equal amount.
Raising the issue, Mano Thangaraj slammed the government for going slow on implementing the projects. He alleged that the special purpose vehicles (SPVs) formed to carry out the projects were not adequately empowered and there was no mention of the funds to the projects in the policy note.
No fund crunch in village panchayats, says Velumani
The DMK MLA alleged that several panchayats in the State were badly hit by cash crunch and so were not able to carry out even basic works. He appealed to the government to look into the issue and take necessary steps to ensure enough money to these panchayats.
However, the minister refuted the charges, saying that no village panchayat was affected by cash crunch.
“If specific cases are brought to the notice of the government, necessary action will be taken to address the issue,” he promised.
Velumani noted that during the last two years, road works on the stretch of 25,914 km were carried out at a cost of Rs 7,870.10 crore and the government spent a whopping Rs18,105.39 crore during 2011-16. But the amount spent during the DMK regime in 2006-11 was Rs 6,823.31 crore.