ERODE/SALEM: Scotching the allegations levelled by the Opposition regarding the purportedly bloated electricity bills, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami said in Erode that there was no confusion regarding the tariffs. The chief minister clarified that the bills that rocked the households were in fact the accumulated levy of four months, as electricity board officials were unable to proceed with their routine works owing to the Covid-19 lockdown.
Claiming that the Opposition was feigning hurt without any just grievance, Palaniswami said, “Electricity department staff were unable to visit households to record the reading due to the pandemic. Later, they combined the reading of four months. The High Court’s order regarding this also mentions this part. The Opposition is raking up issues just to stage protests.” The CM’s comments come in the wake of opposition parties planning to stage a protest on July 21 over the issue.
Palaniswami was in town to review containment measures, and inaugurate 13 projects worth Rs 21.73 crore. He also laid the foundation stone for 14 new projects with an outlay of Rs 76.12 crore. Later, Palaniswami categorically said that no other district would be bifurcated even as traders in Kumbakonam shuttered shops demanding a new district with Kumbakonam as headquarters.
For frontline staff
Assuring that the State was leaving no stone unturned to ensure the safety of the people, Palaniswami said that his government has come up with a compensation scheme for the frontline staff succumbing to Covid-19. He said that the State would pay `50 lakh to a frontline health worker and `25 lakh to other department staff if they died in harness. The compensation would be over and above a government job to the legal heir.
Appointment order
In Salem, Palaniswami handed over an appointment order to Tamilarasi, the wife of a martyred Army Havildar P Mathiazhagan. The woman was appointed as a junior assistant at Edappadi Tahsildar office. On June 4, Mathiazhagan was critically injured in a ceasefire violation by Pakistan in Kashmir. He succumbed to injuries later. The CM is scheduled to return to Chennai on Sunday.
CM inaugurates projects in Salem
Palaniswami went on to dismiss uncorroborated reports on the rise in cancer cases in Erode as false. However, he took cognisance of the industries discharging untreated effluent into waterbodies and assured strict action against violators. Reiterating his commitment to democratic practices and transparency, he said 100 per cent compensation has been sanctioned for people through whose farms the Bharat Petroleum pipelines would traverse. “The project will start only after consulting the farmers. Even after the implementation, the land can be used to grow crops,” he assured.
Staking claim to being the torchbearer of farmers’ rights and wellbeing, Palaniswami said the long-pending Athikadavu-Avinashi project would see the light of day by December 2021. “Over 30 per cent works are complete. My government has allocated Rs 1,652 crore for the project that will harvest rainwater and recharge groundwater. This mega project would irrigate 24,000 acres of agrarian land,” he said.
While the AIADMK is handholding the State to modern times, it has not forgotten the lot of handloom and power loom industries, which would be provided free electricity, he said. He told people that Erode has been allocated Rs 484 crore under the Smart City Project. This allocation focuses on clean drinking water to residents of Erode corporation. Around 95 per cent of the works are complete, and clean drinking water would flow out of taps in two months, he said.
New office buildings
Palaniswami inaugurated a new office building constructed at a cost of Rs 5 crore for Edappadi municipality later in Salem. He inaugurated a bridge constructed at a cost of Rs 2.42 crore across Sarabanga River on Vellalapuram-Akkaraipatti Road in Konganapuram panchayat union. He laid the foundation for new office building for Iruppali panchayat and nine other projects worth Rs 11.77 crore.
Speaking to reporters, Palaniswami said, “Based on requests from residents, we constructed a new building for Municipality and opened it today. We are fulfilling all the promises made during elections.”