DMK leader Stalin pokes fun at TN CM Palaniswami's claim

DMK Working President M K Stalin today ridiculed Chief Minister K Palaniswami for claiming that he had cleared 1,560 files and wanted to know if it had announcements for new big ticket projects.
Palaniswami's claim is an exercise aimed at lifting the "sagging" image of the "crippled" adminstration of the government, he alleged.
He said the claim sought to create an "illusion" of the state having given nod for mega projects which may help in "publicity" but not for "constructive" administrative work.
On April 28, Palaniswami had told reporters at Salem that he had cleared 1,560 files in the past 70 days.

"No file is pending with the Chief Minister's office as of now," he had said.
"Signing files is among the duties of a chief minister. For how many key projects has he given nod by clearing files?," Stalin asked.

Stalin, also Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly, said the chief minister's claim makes it clear that these were "routine" ones and were not related to key projects.
He listed schemes including the Athikadavu-Avinashi project and wanted to know if he had cleared files that had anything to do with these.
The project was aimed at bolstering water supply for drinking and irrigation needs in districts including Coimbatore and Tirupur by tapping surplus water in Pillur Dam.

Citing the allocation of Rs 250 crore for the project, he asked if orders have been issued to commence work.
He wanted to know how many files did Palaniswami clear on the schemes announced during 2017-18 budget and if it had orders on the demand for closure of state-run liqour outlets.
Students getting affected by NEET and farmers' suicides were among the other key issues Stalin highlighted and he wanted to know if the signed files had anything to do with such issues.
He said the chief minister's claim was "funny," since he could not even "sign," papers to resolve people's problems highlighted by his party's legislator V Senthil Balaji.

Balaji had last month announced a protest stating that during late Jayalalithaa's previous tenure, a government medical college hospital was proposed at Vangal village in Karur district.
However, work for the hospital had not begun as Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai and Transport Minister M R Vijayabhaskar were trying to block the construction, he had alleged.