Centre denying nod for metro rail projects act of revenge, says Stalin
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin sharply criticised the Union government for rejecting metro rail projects for Madurai and Coimbatore, calling the decision “cheap” and “a vendetta” against the state for rejecting the BJP.
He accused the Centre of “destroying federalism” and vowed that Tamil Nadu would secure the metro projects “just the way we overcame obstacles for the Chennai Metro”.
Stalin said the Centre had approved metro systems for much smaller tier-II cities in BJP-ruled states while ignoring proposals from an Opposition-led Tamil Nadu. “Self-respecting, rich Tamil Nadu will never accept destruction of federalism,” he said.
DMK Coimbatore MP Ganapathy Rajkumar termed the rejection “step-motherly treatment” by the BJP government.
DMK sources also pointed out that while the Centre cited population criteria under the Metro Rail Policy 2017 to deny approval, metros had been sanctioned for several cities with lower populations, ruled by the BJP. Coimbatore’s local planning authority population stands at 23.5 lakh (2011 Census), meeting the 20-lakh criterion, while Madurai’s municipal and agglomeration populations – 10.2 lakh and 14.7 lakh – are comparable to other approved cities.
They noted that the Centre had cleared metro projects for Agra (1.6 million), Patna (1.7 million) and Bhopal (1.88 million) – all with populations under 20 lakh – and had approved metros for multiple non-capital tier-II cities in other states including Kanpur, Nagpur, Pune, Indore and Surat.