Tamil Nadu Budget: Ennore-Thatchur road gets Rs 951 crore

Chennai: Finance minister D. Jayakumar on Thursday said the land acquisition of the Chennai peripheral ring road from Ennore port to Thatchur on NH5 had commenced and Rs 951 crore had been sanctioned for the scheme.

The State Election Commission is making necessary preparations to conduct the elections, he said and added that an amount of Rs 174 crore had been allocated for this purpose.

Jayakumar said highways for a distance of 115 km would be widened at a cost of Rs 160 crore, while roads for a stretch of Rs 1,000 km would be improved with a plan outlay of Rs 3,100 crore.

He said Rs 200 crore had been allocated to repair potholes under the road safety works programme. Four-laning of 146 km of roads would be done with an outlay of Rs 1,400 crore.

He also said the state government is asking the Centre for a dedicated inter-state Green Energy Corridor to carry the surplus wind energy to energy deficit states.

The implementation of Uday scheme is resulting in saving of Rs 1,335 crore per annum for the state and Tangedco together.  As many of the hydel power plants of Tangedco had outlived their design life, the government would undertake a modernisation of the plants, by raising resources through revenue bonds, an innovative financing instrument.

He said  Rs 275 crore had been sanctioned for the purchase of 2,000 new buses and 100 small buses.

The single window system in the clearance of industries would be strengthened by making them online, so that investors can get all approvals expeditiously in a hassle free manner at one place.

Besides, to ensure timely clearance, committee has been formed under the chairpersonship of the chief secretary to monitor the progress of clearances.  A special package of assistance has also been unveiled to attract investments to the southern districts of the state, Jayakumar said. For fishermen, Jayakumar announced increase of sales tax exemption diesel from 15,000 litres to 18,000 litres per mechanised fishing boat per year and for motorized country crafts, the exemption would be increased from 3,600 litres to 4,000 litres per year.  He also said the quantity of kerosene supplied for fishermen at subsidised rates of Rs 25 per litre would be increased from 3,000 litres to 3,400 litres per motorised country craft per year.

Doctors, health experts find loopholes in budget
Even though the state government raised the financial allocation for the health department, doctors and health experts point out the loopholes, as they express mixed feelings towards the budget.

The budget focused on making medicines affordable and on the expansion of sales outfits by the Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation. However, the anticipation by the health experts in making the drugs a public entity is not met.

Dr G. R. Ravindranath of the Doctors’ Association for Social Equality said, “Rather than giving a mere 10 per cent reduction in the medicines, the government could produce the drugs, which would help in the reduction of prices by 90 per cent.” He also said that the move would curb the production of fake drugs and the sale of past expiry drugs.

It is unfortunate that the number of post-graduation seats in the colleges were increased, without raising the number of posts in hospitals, he added.

It has also prioritised setting up of generic drug selling stores in major locations in towns and rural areas by cooperative institutions to substantially reduce the burden of the public, in terms of the expense.

“The government should focus on improving government facilities and infrastructure instead of involving itself in business. This budget is entirely structured to get votes,” said Ramesh of the Chemists and Druggists Association

Allocation of Rs 1,348 crore to the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance scheme was taken with a pinch of salt, as health experts said that the additional amount could have been used in the hospital infrastructure development.