SALEM: “When I was a 14-year-old boy, access to healthcare was a major issue. Often, I had to travel 14 km to Edappadi or 24 km to Bhavani to get good medical care. Those memories are still fresh in my mind,” Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami said after launching a mini-clinic at Muthunaickenpatti near Omalur on Friday.
Drawing a parallel between how MG Ramachandran conceived the idea of midday meal scheme out of his own impoverished life, Palaniswami said, “I do not want my people to undergo the suffering I went through as a child. This is the main reason behind my government opening mini-clinics to help poor people across the State.”
Reiterating his commitment to improving the lives of farmers, Palaniswami said his government had got Rs 9,200 crore as compensation to farmers under the crop insurance scheme in the past four years. “To fulfil a 40-year-old demand of farmers, we dredged the Poola lake and its channels on an outlay of Rs 1.6 crore in 2015. Our efforts rejuvenated 11 lakes and augmented groundwater. This has helped to irrigate 3,000 acres. A bridge across the Sarabanga river on an outlay of Rs 2 crore has brought connectivity between 15 villages,” he added.
Reiterating that the alliances forged for 2019 Lok Sabha polls were intact, Palaniswami said he would begin his Statewide campaign from Edappadi on Saturday. Addressing reporters later at the AIADMK’s Omalur office, he scotched allegations surrounding inordinate delay in land acquisition for the proposed AIIMS hospital at Madurai.
“The Centre is in the know of land acquisition. However, the pandemic delayed the project as the Union representatives could not take over. There has been no delay from our side. The Centre will soon take over the land. In fact, we have allotted an additional 22 acres to mitigate the area taken up by a pipeline,” Palaniswami said.
Allaying fears of indiscriminate privatisation of public sector entities, he cited Electricity Minister P Thangamani’s assurance that the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board was not going to be divested. However, he refrained from issuing any statement on gangman post issue, as the matter was sub judice.
Palaniswami tore into allegations on the Transport Department putting pressure on lorry owners to procure GPS from select companies, saying that he had the word of Transport Minister Vijayabaskar that there was no such compulsion. “We had earlier told the lorry owners to purchase GPS from 10 companies, and later increased the number of vendors to 16 to ensure only quality products were procured,” he added.
‘No dynasty politics’
Dynasty politics has no place in AIADMK, and unlike other political parties, any grassroots-level functionary can move up the ladder and become Chief Minister, Palaniswami told a gathering after inaugurating a mini-clinic at A Vaniyambadi near Panamarathupatti.
“AIADMK founder MG Ramachandran and former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa left no heir, and considered the people of Tamil Nadu and all party cadre their children. My government has fulfilled all promises made by Jayalalithaa,” Palaniswami said.