Chennai:
A scrapped railway challenge in Tamil Nadu has develop into the most recent bone of rivalry between the state and central governments. The DMK has denied claims by Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw that the state authorities was not keen to go forward with the challenge that will have linked the southern districts of Madurai and Thoothukudi.
Throughout his latest Chennai go to, Mr Vaishnaw stated that the challenge has been shelved because the DMK authorities had given it in writing they do not wish to pursue the challenge.
Chatting with reporters after inspecting Amrit Bharat and Vande Bharat sleeper coaches at ICF Chennai on Friday, he had requested the state authorities to position service to individuals above politics. “We want the state authorities’s help in land acquisition. We should ensure that individuals’s services are above politics and we should have a look at the welfare of the individuals first,” he had stated.
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DMK Youth Wing accused the minister of “blatantly mendacity” and shared a letter by which Chief Minister MK Stalin had in August sought funds for the challenge. “Why is he saying it when the CM write a letter asking for a challenge and when in reality it’s the Railways that has rejected the request stating frivolous causes,” the publish learn.
State Transport Minister SS Sivasankar additionally claimed that his authorities had by no means sought that the challenge be withdrawn – neither in writing nor verbally. Fairly, he stated that they had been insisting on the implementation of the challenge and that such contradictory remarks present the centre’s discriminatory nature in direction of Tamil Nadu.
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The challenge was introduced in 2011-12. Southern Railway began engaged on it in 2016 and 18 km out of the 143.5 km stretch was accomplished between Milavittan and Melmarudur in 2022. Rs 324 crore has already been spent on the challenge.
The DMK, a key ally of the Congress, and the BJP-led centre had been at loggerheads over varied points. One other latest occasion of the state authorities hitting out on the centre is MK Stalin’s ripping remarks towards Governor RN Ravi. The Chief Minister yesterday slammed his resolution to not handle the meeting session as “infantile” and acknowledged that he’s unable to digest that the state was creating.