Jaya appoints minister to implement poll promises

All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) chief J Jayalalithaa has appointed a minister to implement the schemes promised by her party in the election manifesto.

On Monday, Jayalalithaa was sworn in as the 16th chief minister of Tamil Nadu along with her 33 Cabinet ministers, which include 24 new faces. The new Cabinet is the largest in the history of the state since Independence.

The AIADMK supremo has appointed SP Velumani, who won from the Thondamuthur constituency, as Minister for Special Programme to implement the schemes.

The new government has a lot of promises to fulfil. The AIADMK has promised free green houses, 20 kg free rice every month, marriage assistance of Rs 25,000 for poor women, four gm gold for 'Thali' (mangalsutra), free mixies, grinders, fan, 20 litre free drinking water, free laptops to class XI and XII students among others.

The various freebies given by the previous DMK government, which came into power in 2006, had increased the state’s debt to over Rs 1.75 lakh crore from Rs 80,000 crore a year ago. The burden would only increase in the coming years with the AIADMK freebies.

Besides, Jayalalithaa has promised to address the power shortage -- of around 3,000 Megawatt (Mw) every day --facing the state.

The Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) has restricted power consumption by high tension (HT) industries to 70 per cent of their full usage. For the state capital, Chennai, the load shedding is for one hour, while the duration in other parts is from two to three hours.

The AIADMK has assured that by 2013 another 5,000 Mw would be generated and a three-phase power connection would be provided across the state in four years. This will be crucial to attract foreign investments.

The Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK won the 13th Assembly election with absolute majority winning 150 seats in the 234-member House. Jayalalithaa, who took over as chief minister for the third time, said she would fulfil all the election promises in 18 months.