TN: Declare Godavari-Cauvery plan a national project

Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to declare the GodavariCauvery river linking project as a national project so as to benefit lakhs of people in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Addressing the sixth governing council meeting of NITI Aayog, he said river Cauvery and its tributaries had to be rejuvenated on the lines of “Namami Gange” and requested the Centre to accord sanction and extend financial assistance to the State at the earliest.

“We are meeting after a year, during which period the world has been struck by the most extensive pandemic we have seen. A series of timely and effective measures taken in Tamil Nadu by calibrated relaxations, effective RT/PCR testing, tracking and conduct of fever camps have ensured total control of the spread of Covid in our State,” he said.

He said the State had been ranked Number One in the Good Governance Index released by the Government of India and had bagged the ‘Best Performing State’ title in the National Water Award, 2019.

The State received the highest share of investment proposals (16 percent) in India during April 2020 to September 2020, as per the CARE ratings report, he said, adding that through the on-line single window portal, investment of `22,332 crore nd employment potential 76,835 persons had cleared.

He also listed the various business projects launched in the State like the MultiModal logistics park being developed near Chennai in around 150 acres of land.

“The Tamil Nadu Protected Agricultural Zone Development Act, is a historic enactment to protect the fertile agricultural of been lands and safeguard the livelihoods of farmers and agricultural labourers in the Cauvery delta,” he said.

Palaniswami said Lakhs of farmers were successfully enrolled under the Prime Minister Crop Insurance Scheme and compensation of `9,365 crore was disbursed in the last 4 years to 54.12 lakh beneficiaries.