Rail tracks to canal: Modi inaugurates projects worth Rs 4,400 cr in TN

Prime Minister hands over Arjun Main Battle Tank, developed in Avadi, to the Indian Army

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated projects worth more than Rs 4,400 crore in Tamil Nadu, visiting the state ahead of assembly elections.

Modi, at event in Chennai’s Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor stadium, handed over the Arjun Main Battle Tank (MK-1A) to the Indian Army. The tank is indigenously designed and developed at Avadi near Chennai. He later paid floral tributes to the portraits of late AIADMK leaders and former Chief Ministers M G Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa.

He inaugurated the 9.05-km long extension of Chennai Metro Rail Phase-I, which will cost Rs 3,770 crore to link North Chennai with the airport and Central Railway Station. He inaugurated a fourth railway line between Chennai Beach and Attipattu: a 22.1-km section laid at a cost of Rs 293.40 crore. The line traverses through Chennai and Thiruvallur districts and will ease road traffic around Chennai Port. 

Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam said the projects are a "shining example" of central and state government cooperation. 

Modi inaugurated work for the electrification of a 228 km-railway route that will free up traffic without the need for changing traction between Chennai Egmore and Kanyakumari, saving Rs 14.61 lakh in fuel per day. The work will cost Rs. 423 crore.

He laid the foundation stone for the extension, renovation and modernisation of the Grand Anicut Canal System. The canal is important for irrigation in the delta districts. The modernization of this canal will be taken up at a cost of Rs.2,640 crore, and will lead to an improvement in the water carrying capacity of the canals.

He laid the foundation stone for the Discovery Campus of Indian Institute of Technology Madras. The campus will be built at Thaiyur near Chennai at an estimated cost of Rs.1000 crore in the first phase.