The BJP government at the Centre has committed a series of malpractices and irregularities in the implementation of government schemes such as Bharatmala Pariyojna (a road and highways development project) as well as six other major projects, totalling ₹7.5 lakh crore. MDMK general secretary Vaiko, will call for a probe in connection with this, on Friday.
The MDMK is celebrating the 115th birth anniversary of Annadurai, popularly known as Anna in Madurai on September 15, 2023. The celebrations are themed around the slogan Koodal Nagaril Kooduvom (Let us meet in the temple city Madurai, also known as Koodal Nagar).
The celebrations are being held as part of a conference of the party’s senior office-bearers from various parts of the State. As many as 14 resolutions are to be passed on the occasion.
A list of resolutions, released to the media ahead of the conference, said that in the first phase of Bharatmala, 34,800 km of roads were laid at a cost of ₹5.35 lakh crore, while subsequently, another 26,316 km of road were laid at ₹8.46 lakh crore. As per the Cabinet’s recommendation, for every one km, the government was to spend ₹15.37 crore, while the contract firm’s rate revealed ₹32.17 crore spent for every one km. This was two times the recommended price, as pointed out in the recent Comptroller and Auditor General report.
Likewise, resolutions pointed to the complaints over excess collection from just five toll plazas, suggested that the contractors had collected ₹154 crore in excess. The MDMK passed a resolution demanding a thorough probe into this.
Sri Lankan Tamil, NEET, AIIMS issues
The party will also pass a resolution directing the Union government to not extend support to Sri Lanka. “Whatever, we give to our neighbour [Sri Lanka], it should be given with certain conditions,” the resolution resolves, and points out that the Lankan government had not yet apologised for the killing over 1.5 lakh innocent Tamils during the country’s civil war.
On the NEET exemption demanded by the Tamil Nadu government, the conference is to state that the Union government should consider this, and grant exemption forthwith. Even after the loss of over 20 lives, starting from student S. Anitha of Ariyalur, the Centre has remained adamant, it will state.
In 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone for the AIIMS [All India Institute of Medical Sciences] in Madurai, where the T.N. government had given over 224 acres of land. Though it was a prestigious institution, one eagerly awaited by the people, it was still not built, and the delay caused by the Union government was highly condemnable, the resolution states. The Centre should ensure the facility was in place soon.
On the appointment of members for a search panel for the posting Vice-Chancellors to three Universities in T.N. including Madras University, a resolution condemnds the “unilateral’ move by the T.N. Governor who had appointed the members on his own.
The reported proposal to rename India, Bharat, and the introducing or coining of new names for the Indian Penal Code, Evidence Act and Code of Criminal Procedure among others, revealed the hidden agenda of the BJP. The country has been enjoying the fruits of a secular ethos, and such moves should not be permitted, a resolution resolves.
The conference members will also appeal to the public to cast their votes for the candidates contesting under the the I.N.D.I.A. alliance across the country and restore “the lost sheen of the country’s democracy”.
