By IANS,
Chennai : Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister M.K. Stalin Monday told the state assembly that work on the Hogenakkal drinking water project would start in March and be completed by 2012.
Replying to the issues raised during the debate on the motion of thanks to Governor Surjit Singh Barnala for his address to the house, Stalin said: “Work on the Hogenakkal integrated drinking water scheme will start this March and will be completed by December 2012. The work will be carried out in five phases.”
Referring to various welfare schemes announced by the governor, including building houses for the poor, waiving off fishermen’s loans, he said the state government would implement the schemes.
Referring to Leader of Opposition J. Jayalalithaa’s charge that the governor’s address was nothing but a recycled version of earlier speeches, Stalin wondered whether the announcement of building 21 lakh concrete houses, waiving of fishermen’s loans were recycled ones.
He assured the house about the government’s seriousness in tacking the rising prices of essential commodities.
Earlier, AIADMK general secretary J. Jayalalithaa, coming down heavily on the DMK government’s welfare schemes, said these were “non-value creating schemes” that had put the state in a “debt trap”, affecting tax sources and resulting in rising prices and mounting unemployment.
“The total debt of the state is around Rs.90,000 crore and the daily interest pay-out is around Rs.20 crore. If the population of the state is around six crore, each citizen has to shoulder a debt burden of Rs.15,000.”
She alleged the governments’s debt burden got bloated in the last four years due to spending on non-performing items, and cited freebies like colour televisions (TV) to the poor, free gas stoves and other things that left no money to spend on developmental activities.
Referring to the government’s decision to build 2.1 million concrete houses for families living in thatched huts, she wondered where the funds would come from.
She said the DMK rule during 1996-2001 left the state with two cancers – budget deficit and debt trap – and the AIADMK government that succeeded it had to bring the state’s finances back on track.
The house watched interesting exchanges between Jayalalithaa and the DMK ministers.
When starting her speech, Jayalalithaa said she did not expect the DMK members to interrupt her as it would indirectly belittle their leader’s debating skills.
To this, DMK minister Durai Murugan wondered whether the AIADMK members lacked the confidence in their leader’s debating skills when they interrupted DMK members in the assembly.
To this, Jayalalithaa replied that people know who has what skills and she does not need any certificate from Durai Murugan.
When Jayalalithaa faulted the government in naming the health insurance scheme after Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, another DMK minister wondered why the AIADMK government named then state transport undertakings after her.
Chief Minister Karunanidhi said that the next session of the assembly – budget session – will be held in a new complex, the construction of which is progressing at a fast pace.