Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Wednesday accused the Centre of denying Metro rail for ‘temple city Madurai’ and for ‘South India’s Manchester, Coimbatore.’
M K Stalin’s statement timed PM Modi’s visit to Coimbatore asserting that the state will ‘fight and win’.
The alleged denying of Metro rail projects according to him points to deeper hostility toward a state, adding that the state would ‘never accept such a distortion of federal principles’.
‘A government exists to serve people without bias. Yet the Union BJP (government) treats Tamil Nadu’s democratic choice as a reason to take revenge. Pushing such a political custom, in which BJP ruled states get Metros for smaller Tier II cities while opposition ruled States are deprived, is a disgraceful approach,’ he reportedly wrote.
Accusing the state of having ‘attempted to stall the Chennai Metro’ in the past, Stalin said that the state overcame what he said ‘ malicious attempts’, adding that the project was progressing, ‘With the same determination, we will secure the Metro Rail that Madurai and Coimbatore need for their future growth’.
The Union government, earlier this month, reportedly rejected the Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) for Metro Rail systems for Coimbatore and Madurai, citing provisions of the Metro Rail Policy, 2017 that requires an ‘urban agglomeration of at least 20 lakh people’ to get the project.
Both Madurai and Coimbatore failed to qualify for the project as they respectively stood at below 15 lakh and 15.84 lakh, thus falling short of the criterion.
The state government countered it arguing that the figures being outdated do not reflect the rapid growth of the past decade.
The Tamil Nadu government submitted proposal in phases for Coimbatore including two major corridors stretching 44 km at the estimated cost of Rs 9,424 crore.
For Madurai, the proposal was for a 32 km corridor from Thirumangalam to Othakadai with 27 stations at an estimated cost is Rs 11,366 crore.
The Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry recommended expanded bus systems and Bus Rapid Transit System corridors as alternatives claiming that they would be more ‘aligned with the cities’ sizes’.