Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party president K. Annamalai on Tuesday alleged that the collapse of a portion of a recently-erected roof in VOC Stadium in Tirunelveli district was indicative of the DMK government’s corruption while implementing the schemes of the Union government.
Though the project was initiated under the Union government’s Smart Cities Mission during the previous AIADMK government in 2021, he said that majority of the renovation work in the stadium, carried out a cost of ₹ 14 crore, were completed after the DMK came to power. He said that a Minister and senior officials who inspected the work in August 2022 had expressed satisfaction over the work.
A section of the roof collapsed on Monday after a short and sudden downpour with strong winds. Mr. Annamalai said the structure could not even withstand a short spell of rain. He demanded the State government to take stringent action the officials and the Minister concerned for such a quality of work, which had put people’s lives at risk. As the incident happened when no one was present, there were no loss of lives, he added. He alleged that the DMK also indulging in corruption in the implementation of the Jal Jeevan Mission.
Navodaya Schools
In a separate statement, Mr. Annamalai questioned why the State government was not allowing the establishment of Navodaya Schools of the Union government, which specially focussed on rural students, especially girl children. He said the State government’s decision to not allow these schools for political reasons was an injustice committed to these students.
