CHENNAI: Chief Minister MK Stalin on Saturday wrote a detailed letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing “disappointment and anguish” over the union government’s rejection of metro rail proposals for Coimbatore and Madurai, while countering the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs’ (MoHUA) stated reasons for the rejection and urging reconsideration of the decision.
In his letter, Stalin said he has directed the Department of Special Initiatives to submit detailed justifications on MoHUA’s concerns. Urging the PM to instruct MoHUA to review its decision, he said, “If necessary, I am ready to meet you in Delhi with my team to explain the issues in detail.” The rejection has created “deep resentment among the people of the two cities that their deserving needs have been rejected, as compared to similar projects sanctioned in other states,” he said.
Responding to MoHUA’s reasons stated in its letter to TN for rejecting the proposals, Stalin said the “purported reasons” were not appropriate. On the population criterion, he said while the ministry cited the Metro Rail Policy 2017’s requirement of 2 million population, Coimbatore’s Local Planning Area had exceeded this threshold back in 2011 itself, and Madurai is also likely to have crossed it now. Highlighting what he termed as selective application of the criteria, he noted that “if this 2 million criteria had been applied uniformly, many metros in tier-II cities like Agra, Indore and Patna may not have materialised.”
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Stal in said the “selective application of this criterion to our proposal has created an impression of discrimination against our cities.” On ridership concerns, the CM rejected MoHUA’s comparison with Chennai, stating this was “not appropriate since ridership depends upon multiple factors.”
Both Coimbatore and Madurai have commuting patterns different from Chennai, he said, and emphasised that detailed traffic studies by RITES through the Comprehensive Mobility Plan for Coimbatore had “clearly projected the need for MRTS in the proposed sectors.” For Madurai, Stalin noted that while the 2011 CMP had proposed a Bus Rapid Transit System, it had “clearly mentioned that the rail-based system can also be considered” since most of the route would need to be elevated anyway.
“Further, the DPR studies have made subsequent independent assessments of traffic projections, which justified the need for metro rail corridors,” he said. Addressing concerns over availability of right of way (in few places in Coimbatore), the CM said, “it is well known that metro rail projects have necessitated acquisition of private lands in most cities in India.” He assured that the state government was “fully conscious of the need for balancing social costs due to land acquisition with the long-term socio-economic benefits” and would ensure the projects would not be hindered by land unavailability.
Stalin reminded the PM that he had raised these projects during their meetings on May 24 and July 26, 2025, making the rejection particularly rising. He emphasised that TN, “being the most urbanised state in India with a high per-capita private vehicle ownership, needs high-capacity public transport alternatives in all its large growth engine cities.” “Since these two projects involve the aspirations of the industrial and cultural hubs of TN, I look forward to your personal intervention in this issue,” Stalin concluded.