Annamalai criticises Stalin for his charges against the Central government
BJP state president K Annamalai criticised Chief Minister MK Stalin for his charges against the ruling party at the Centre. He listed out ongoing projects funded by the Union government in Tamil Nadu and justified Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari’s comments in the Parliament that lack of cooperation from the state government is delaying the road projects.
Rebutting the DMK president and CM Stalin’s remark against Gadkari, Annamalai posted a series of tweets stating that the TN government did not take concrete measures to ease the NH works in the state, but it demands for expedition of work.
He took to social media to counter the Chief Minister’s statement that “the condition of the road is so bad” and it forced him to prefer train travel to Ranipet and Vellore for review of government projects. The CM appealed to the Union Minister to improve the road condition between Chennai and Ranipet.
Calling the CM’s statement as “haphazard response,” he said the Centre has taken 2,414 km length of highway under Bharathmala scheme. It excluded the Chennai-Salem Expressway project that the DMK protested while in opposition.
He also pointed out the Rs 5,877 crore road projects, including Chennai Port- Maduravoyal elevated expressway project, have been taken under Gati Shakthi.
He pointed out that the NHAI threatened to foreclose four Highway projects in December 2021 due to lack of support from the state government, while it decided to drop the Rs 3,000 crore ECR expansion project due to a delay by the state government to provide no objection certificate.
“The slow progress of National Highways in Tamil Nadu is a serious issue that the state government seems clueless about and now stand exposed,” said Annamalai.