TN Budget: Rs 20 crore allotted to convert Jayalalithaa's house into memorial

Chennai: Tamil Nadu government on Thursday allotted 20 crore to convert ‘Veda Nilayam’, where late chief minister J. Jayalalithaa lived for nearly five decades, into a memorial. The decision to convert the bungalow, bought by Jayalalithaa’s mother Sandhya in the 1960s, was taken in August as part of measures to enable the merger of EPS and OPS factions of the AIADMK.

In his budget speech, Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam announced that Rs 20 crore has been allotted for the purpose. This was in addition to the construction of a “grand memorial” at Jayalalithaa’s burial site at the famous Marina beach here, at a cost of Rs 50.80 crore, Pannerselvam said in his budget speech in the assembly.

Officials recently commenced preliminary work on the proposed conversion of Jayalalithaa’s residence in Poes Garden locality here into a memorial. Jayalalithaa died on December 5, 2016.

Panneerselvam also said a grand function would be held here marking the culmination of birth centenary celebrations of AIADMK founder and late Chief Minister M. G. Ramachandran, popularly known as MGR.

The celebrations began in January last and the government had been holding events in all 30 districts across the state.