Stalin slams Centre for rejecting Coimbatore, Madurai Metro projects

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. K. Stalin accused the Centre of rejecting Metro rail proposals for Coimbatore and Madurai on flimsy grounds, calling it political revenge

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Wednesday accused the Centre of rejecting metro rail projects for Coimbatore and Madurai on “flimsy grounds,” describing it as political revenge against the state.

 

Stalin said the state would “fight and win” against such actions. His remarks coincided with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Coimbatore. In a post on X, Stalin alleged that the BJP-led central government had denied metro connectivity to ‘Temple City’ Madurai and ‘South India’s Manchester’ Coimbatore without valid justification.

 

“A government exists to serve people without bias. Yet the Union BJP treats Tamil Nadu’s democratic choice as a reason to take revenge. Pushing such a political custom, in which BJP-ruled states get metros for smaller tier-II cities while Opposition-ruled states are deprived, is a disgraceful approach. Tamil Nadu, the land of self-respect, will never accept such a distortion of federal principles,” he wrote.

 

 

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) rejected the state’s proposals citing the Metro Rail Policy, 2017, which requires a city population of more than two million. Media reports note that Coimbatore’s population stood at 1.58 million in the 2011 Census, while the Local Planning Authority estimated it at 2.35 million. For Madurai, the Municipal Corporation had around 1 million people, with the urban agglomeration estimated at 1.47 million.

 

The CM said the Centre had earlier attempted to obstruct the Chennai metro as well. “They attempted to stall the Chennai Metro, and we overcame those malicious attempts and kept the project progressing. With the same determination, we will secure the Metro Rail that Madurai and Coimbatore need for their future growth,” Stalin said, adding that “Tamil Nadu will fight! Tamil Nadu will win!”

 

State officials pointed out that several tier-II cities with lower or comparable populations have received similar approvals. These include Agra (1.6 million), Patna (1.7 million), and Bhopal (1.88 million).

 

“The Centre has approved Metros for cities with lower population than ours. In our case, they have rejected Coimbatore, which has a higher population, and Madurai, which has a comparable population to those cities. The Centre has not considered our tier-II non-state-capital cities while doing so for other states,” a senior government source said. “GoI has approved Metro projects for many tier-II cities outside state capitals, including Agra and Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh; Nagpur and Pune in Maharashtra; Indore in Madhya Pradesh; and Surat in Gujarat,” the source added.