Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin to meet PM to seek release of blocked funds
Chennai: Chief Minister M K Stalin said that he would seek an appointment to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi to personally appeal to him to release the funds meant for the second phase of the Chennai Metro Rail Project and for the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) scheme related to school education as they had been blocked by the Union Government.
Arriving at the Chennai airport after successfully completing his 17-day official trip to the United States of America on Saturday morning, Stalin started his media conference by greeting the reporters and then said that his visit to the US had helped bring investments to the tune of Rs 7618 crore by signing Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with 19 companies, 18 of them in the Fortune 500 list.
Expressing happiness over Ford Motors announcing the revival of their manufacturing unit at Maraimalainagar near Chennai after he had boarded the flight back home from Chicago, he said that his Ministers and officials had been in touch for a long time with the company executives, who had assured to come up with the announcement soon when he called on them.
He was also excited over the agreements with Google for training the youth of Tamil Nadu under the Naan Mudhalvan scheme of the government and with Autodesk for the skill development programme, which would turn the State into a most favoured destination of industries for investments.
Answering media persons’ questions on the allegation of opposition parties that the Chief Minister’s official tour to lure investments was a failure as other States like Telangana and Andhra Pradesh had managed to get Rs 25,000 crore, he said the investments assured through the present batch of agreements would all come in one hundred percent.
The industries would be set up all through the State in places like Trichy, Madurai, Coimbatore, Krishnagiri, Chennai, Chengalpattu, and Kanchipuram, he said.
On the opposition's demand for a White Paper on his foreign visit, he said that all details on investments had been revealed to the media and that the information had been provided to the State Assembly, which could be accessed by the opposition leaders.
He referred to a similar trip made by Leader of the Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami when he was the Chief Minister and said that not even 10 percent of promised investments had come into the State and he did not want to elaborate on that though he had documentary evidence as it would reflect badly on the AIADMK chief.
Stalin, who spoke glowingly about the two meetings he had with Tamil people in San Francisco on August 31 and in Chicago on September 7 when he felt at home, drove down from the airport by waving to the huge crowds that had gathered on the sides of the road to welcome him. The Chief Minister, who arrived at 8.10 am by an Emirates flight, was received by the top DMK leaders, Ministers, MPs, and MLAs, as he drove into the city.