Chief Minister Stalin has written a strongly worded letter to the Union Government, in which he has termed Union Minister Nitin Gadkiri reply in the Parliament that Tamil Nadu Government is not cooperating with National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) as unfortunate. Stalin asserted that it was not true reflection of the ground situation.
CM Stalin writes letter to Nitin Gadkari, points out poor condition of NH4
Stalin’s letter made reference to , Lok Sabha member Dayanidhi Maran, who had asked Gadkari to improve the state of the current road section connecting Chennai and Ranipet (National Highway 4).
Stalin stated in the letter,
“This segment provides vital connectivity from Chennai city and its ports to the industrial clusters in Kanchipuram, Vellore, Ranipet, Hosur and Krishnagiri. The condition of the road is so bad that I had to plan my recent visits to a few districts by train. While the request from our MP was very specific on this important road, we were disappointed with your reply which was very general and non-committal,”
CM Stalin defends TN Government and states it walks extra mile in implementing Infrastructure projects
Stalin also informed about the steps taken by his Government in expediting various projects in the state,
“With all such sincere efforts by the government, it was unfortunate that an impression that the state government was not cooperating with NHAI has been underlined in your reply in the Parliament.”
The Chennai Port to Maduravoyal Elevated Expressway Project was also mentioned by Stalin, who claimed that it had been revived by providing all assistance feasible, including an exemption from royalty on aggregates.
“I assure you that it is not true and we have been trying our best to expedite all major infrastructure projects without discriminating between the projects undertaken by the state and Union governments,”
Stalin said,
“Similar concessions, which were never given in the past, have been extended to other major NHAI projects as well. Based on the requests from the Centre’s side, the validity of soil/gravel permits has been extended on May 9, 2022 from 3 months to 1 year… A Special Cell has been constituted in the State headquarters to monitor land acquisition for highway projects. Permissions from Forest department are also being reviewed and “to the best of my knowledge, no major NHAI project is held up for want of such permissions,”.
Proactive approach by TN Administration
Through his letter Stalin informed that Chief Secretary periodically monitors the district collectors’ progress in acquiring land and obtaining borrow earth approvals. He noted that the other petitions for free provision of borrow earth by waiving material costs, royalties, and seigniorage charges were also being taken into account. Stalin asked Gadkari to give his department’s representatives instructions to investigate the “extremely particular request voiced by our MP.” The part of NH-4 from Sriperumbudur to Walajapet where the six-laning construction is being done is the road segment that was mentioned. Due to contractual disagreements between the contractors and NHAI, the construction has been delayed, and as a result, the current road is in very poor shape.
Stalin pointed out,
“It is not out of place to mention that the High Court of Madras in December 2020 reduced the toll fee at Sriperumbudur and Chennasamudram toll plazas to 50 per cent due to such poor maintenance. The poor road conditions and the difficulties faced by road users have caused a major dent in the reputation of NHAI, which otherwise has been doing an excellent job in our State,”
Stalin also requested that suitable instructions be given to officials to expedite the six laning work and maintain that stretch in good condition, and further wrote in his letter,
“I once again assure you that we will continue to extend all necessary cooperation for your projects,”
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