ARIYALUR: CM MK Stalin on Friday laid the foundation stone for a manufacturing unit of Taiwanese footwear major Dean Shoes at the SIPCOT Park in Jayankondam. The first ever company in the industrial park is being set up at an investment of Rs 1,000 crore and aims to generate 15,000 jobs.
The CM also launched the second phase of ‘Ootachathai Uruthi Sei’ — a nutrition programme for babies and mothers — carrying an allocation of Rs 22 crore, at the anganwadi centre in Varanavasi the same day.
Later, Stalin participated in a government event at Kollapuram where he inaugurated 507 projects, completed at a cost of Rs 87.94 crore, in Ariyalur and Perambalur. He laid the foundation for 53 projects coming up in both the districts at a total cost of Rs 120 crore. Stalin also distributed welfare assistance to the tune of Rs 174 crore to 21,862 beneficiaries from both the districts.
Addressing the gathering, Stalin said, “In the three-and-a-half year rule of the DMK, we signed MoUs to bring in investments worth Rs 10 lakh crore which would generate 31 lakh jobs. We are making all arrangements for the firms to set themselves up at the earliest.”
Commenting that he was not a person who thinks that his duty is to only announce schemes and allocate funds for them, and entrust their implementation in the hands of officials, the CM said, “I have been undertaking field inspections to ensure their timely implementation.”
Taking a dig at AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, he said, “The trust and love people have on me and the DMK are causing unrest in Palaniswami. He keeps unleashing lies to the media every day fearing that people may forget him.”
Questioning Palaniswami’s claims of having brought in investments worth Rs 3 lakh crore to when he was CM, Stalin alleged that the previous government through “corruption and commission” drove away those who came to the state to invest.
“Our government has brought back many such investors. Now, Tamil Nadu is going through a renaissance in industrial development,” he said.
Further, the CM announced that an integrated court complex for Ariyalur will be set up a cost of Rs 101 crore. TNIE had on November 15 published a report flagging the delay in construction of a new district court.
Earlier, Chidambaram MP and VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan remarked, “The backward districts of Ariyalur and Perambalur have gained the CM’s attention and are developing now.”
‘Empty announcements’
Chennai: BJP leader K Annamalai on Friday accused the DMK of making empty announcements. Taking to ‘X’, Annamalai quoted an RTI response to say that following an announcement that an MoU has been signed for Taiwan’s High Glory footwear to invest Rs 2,302 crore in Kallakurichi, not a single stone has been laid even after 20 months of the announcement. The govt said Rs 6,000 crore investments were brought in following CM’s Dubai visit, but not even Rs 60 crore worth of investments have been realised, Annamalai claimed.