SALEM: Taking a leaf out of the Union government’s Namami Gange Project, the State would embark on an ambitious drive to clean up four rivers — Bhavani, Vaigai, Amaravathi and Thamirabarani — and supply protected clean drinking water to the residents. This announcement was by the chief minister, who was in the town to inaugurate the 36th Government Exhibition at Corporation Ground near New Bus Stand on Sunday.
Addressing a gathering, the chief minister listed out the various development schemes the present dispensation had taken up in line with the vision of party stalwarts — Dr M G Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa.
Stating that his government was into an administrative overdrive, he scotched reports published by some newspapers, claiming the Tamil Nadu government had returned Rs 3,600 crore to the Centre. “This is wrong news. In 2017-18 financial year, the Centre sanctioned Rs 1,516.12 crore based on the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission for panchayats. However, the Centre released only `758.06 crore in the first phase and there was no fund flow in the second phase. The pending amount was treated as savings by the State government. Meanwhile, owing to the steps taken by the State government in 2018-19, the Centre released the arrears. The State government has never sent back funds received from the Centre,” the chief minister added.
Explaining the history and relevance of Government Exhibitions, he said the first-ever such exhibition was inaugurated by MG Ramachandran in Salem in 1978. Since then, 204 government exhibitions have been conducted in various districts.