TN govt seeks Rs 9,090 cr for intra-linking rivers

Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa has urged the Planning Commission to secure assistance of Rs 9,090 crore under the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) for intra-linking of rivers and flood management. The state government has said that proposals had already been sent to the Centre in this regard.

In her speech during the finalisation of the Annual Plan for Tamil Nadu for 2012-2013 with the Union Planning Commission in New Delhi on Monday, Jayalalithaa said that Tamil Nadu had little surplus surface water resources.

In order to optimise its limited resources, the state has proposed linking of the Cauvery and Gundar rivers at a cost of Rs 5,619.44 crore and linking the Thamiraparani river with Karumeniar and Nambiar rivers at a cost of Rs 453.44 crore.

 

“I had specifically requested the Union government for financial support for these two massive schemes. However, I am disappointed at the lack of response since the alternative access to funds under the AIBP has also been denied to Tamil Nadu”.

Despite the Union Planning Commission’s recommendation for financial assistance to Tamil Nadu under the Flood Management Programme, no funds were released during 2011-2012, the chief minister said.

The chief minister said that on the state government’s part, a plan had been chalked out for an ambitious programme for restoring over 39,000 water bodies in Tamil Nadu to their original storage capacity by converging various schemes.

Meanwhile, the chief minister also said the the Union government’s meagre support to the Swarna Jayanthi Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY) under-estimates the pressing problem of urban poverty.

Being closer to the urban poor of the state, the Tamil Nadu government has launched the Tamil Nadu Urban Livelihood Mission with an initial outlay of Rs 200 crore. This programme is designed to tackle urban poverty, mainly through providing livelihood security to the urban poor.

The chief minister asked the Union Planning Commission to persuade the Centre to address this problem in a mission mode.

The state government has been implementing numerous welfare programmes and some of these schemes share common goals with similar central schemes. This would facilitate the effective implementation of such well-grounded popular state schemes if the states could access more central funds, Jayalalithaa said.