TN has shown the way to country in water sector: Venkaiah Naidu

State govt submits a wishlist for Centre's support including a clearance for additional Metro Rail line

Union minister for urban development M Venkaiah Naidu today lauded Tamil Nadu government for having “shown the way to the rest of the country” in the water sector.

Speaking to reporters after meeting chief minister J Jayalalithaa today, he said TN was ahead of others states in executing projects in rainwater harvesting, recycling of water and desalination projects.

He added the state had in place a better system for charging water consumption from consumers, helping the state meet costs for the operation and maintenance of water supply schemes, which was “the need of hour”.

During the meeting, Jayalalithaa handed over a wishlist and sought Centre's support in implementing some of the urban infrastructure projects, including phase-II metro rail works worth Rs 36,100 crore.

She had sought for an early clearance of the 9.051 km extension of the corridor-I stretch of the Chennai metrorail project up to Thiruvottriyur and Wimco Nagar, at an estimated updated cost of Rs 3,770 crore.

During the discussion, Jayalalithaa wanted several cities in Tamil Nadu to be developed under the Union government's Smart City plan, including Chennai and Coimbatore.

Naidu said the chief minister wanted inclusion of her elected constituency, Srirangam, in the Centre’s list of heritage cities and its support for putting up two seawater reverse osmosis plants for Chennai for over Rs 5,000 crore.  Jayalalithaa told Naidu the project reports had been prepared for various urban infrastructure projects, including providing drinking water at a total project cost of Rs 26,000 crore, were  awaiting Centre's clearance and funding.