CHENNAI: Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu on Friday vehemently criticised the union government for ‘betraying’ Tamil Nadu in the allocation of funds for various schemes, including for the centrally sponsored ones, due to ‘blatant political prejudice’.
Responding to the discussion on the demands for grants for supplementary estimates for the current financial year, the minister said it was his duty to inform the House how the union government has consistently shortchanged Tamil Nadu and how it caused the underlying revenue deficit in the state.
Stating that the GST reforms were introduced unilaterally without consulting the states, the minister asked: “Does the union government consider cooperative federalism, loudly proclaimed so far, to be genuine? Is the union government’s policy of neglecting Tamil Nadu in school and higher education funding, despite its top ranking in India, not a manifestation of bias?”
He also questioned whether it was fair on the part of the union government to award thousands of crores of rupees for highway projects while TN is continuously ignored.
The other key questions raised by the minister were: “Why is the southern railway network, critical for national connectivity, being deprived of necessary funding? Why have Metro rail projects in Coimbatore and Madurai been stalled by Delhi for 20 months?”
Thennarasu also said in the education sector alone, they owe the state Rs 4,000 crore, yet only Rs 450 crore has been released under the Right to Education Act. Similarly, under the Jal Jeevan Mission, Rs 3,407 crore due to TN remains unpaid, even as the state continues to finance both its own and the union’s share to maintain drinking water projects.
While the union government sanctioned eight new expressways worth Rs 50,655 crore nationwide, not a single one was allotted to TN. UP alone received projects worth over Rs 11,800 crore, Gujarat Rs 10,500 crore, and Maharashtra Rs 17,800 crore. Likewise, railway allocations reflect stark discrimination – UP received Rs 19,858 crore in a single year, whereas TN got only Rs 19,068 crore over three years.
The minister underscored that TN’s demand for due financial allocation is not an appeal for charity but a rightful claim, and urged the union government to treat all states equally within the federal framework.
