The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government is a road block in taking Central government schemes to the people of Tamil Nadu. It does not want or allow people to get empowered, according to Prakash Javadekar, Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests.
Talking to reporters here on Friday, he said that several schemes could not reach villages in Tamil Nadu owing to poor cooperation of the State government. He referred to National Optical Fibre Network Project which could offer broad band services and internet connectivity to all village panchayats. Laying fibre optic cable had to be done by the State government and the Centre would do the rest. “All States, except Tamil Nadu have agreed to it,” he said.
The Centre had planned to cover one lakh villages in the country this year and cable laying had been completed in 6,000 villages, he said, adding already the Tamil Nadu government had failed to reap the benefits of Ujala and Uday schemes.
The Centre wanted to take all its schemes to people in all States. But the AIADMK government had prevented it till now. “Even today, the Tamil Nadu government can join the scheme and take the benefits of IT to rural masses,” Mr. Javadekar said.
Stating that the Bharatiya Janata Party had been facing the Tamil Nadu Assembly election with full confidence, he said that people here wanted to have good governance and lead a life of self-esteem. Skill development and employment generation would make people self-reliant, he said.
Panel recommendations
Reacting to the implementation of Kasturi Rangan Committee recommendations on Western Ghats Eco Sensitive Zone, he said that Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat had sent proposals in this connection but only Tamil Nadu had not sent its proposals to date despite repeated reminders.
