Tamil Nadu will soon be absolutely free from power cuts as a result of a host of measures being pursued by the government, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa said on Monday.
In her reply to the debate on the motion of thanks to the Governor’s address in the assembly, Ms. Jayalalithaa detailed the measures being undertaken to address the power situation.
“Power production in the state achieved a new milestone when 12,799 MW was generated on January 29 last year, up from the 8000 MW to 9000 MW range,” she said.
Procurement contracts have been to get 3330 MW power for 15 years. During 2014-15, the state will be getting 1098 MW power from private power producers in Tuticorin and Cuddalore districts. Also, 2158 MW power would be received from private power stations in Chattisgarh, Odisha, Jharkhand and Maharashtra, she said.
On education and sanitation sectors, she said more focus should be on developing human resources to ensure the state’s progress. “That is why I am giving importance to education and sanitation which will be useful for future generations.”
Listing many measures being pursued by her regime in the education front like incentives to students of class, 10 and 12, she explained how her government had brought services like caste, nativity and revenue certificates to the students’ directly through the school principal.
English medium classes have been started in as many as 6,594 schools besides spoken English classes, to provide an opportunity to children to learn English in government schools.
During the current fiscal, Rs. 16,965 Cr has been earmarked for school education. The pass percentage has increased to 89 (in 2011, 85.3 per cent) and 88.1 (in 2011, 85.8 per cent) in classes 10 and 12 respectively in 2013, she said.
As regards higher education, Ms. Jayalalithaa said new engineering, polytechnic, arts and science colleges, besides a national law school in Srirangam have been set up. Also, works to upgrade the infrastructure in colleges are being done at an outlay of Rs 100 crore.
“Some are criticising this. Did Stalin, DMK’s legistature party leader educated his children in Tamil medium. No...even the schools run by his family members do not impart education through Tamil medium,” she charged.
“We have revolutionised education in Tamil Nadu. Soon, the state would be 100 per cent literate.”
As regards the health front, 5,84,000 persons have been benefitted from the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme at a cost of Rs.1,256 Crore.
Also, the Medical Services Recruitment Board was set up for the first time in India and 4361 doctors were appointed.
Setting up a super specialty hospital on a par with the AIIMS in Delhi and a Centre of excellence in dentistry were among the many measures the Chief Minister mentioned. “The health indicators in Tamil Nadu have improved as a result.”
Stating that many measures have been taken to protect the interests of the marginalised people, the Chief Minister said more than 71 lakh family card holders had received mixies, grinders and table fans at free of cost.
Milch cows (32,052) and goats (14,97,624) have been distributed to beneficiaries with an aim of ushering in White Revolution. Also, 1,80,000 persons have benefitted under the Solar Green House scheme.
Blaming the Centre for the inflation, she said her government was doing whatever was possible to tackle price rise though the problem could be addressed only if the Union government’s comprehensive economic policy was tweaked.
Provision of 20 kg free rice at PDS outlets, instituting a Price Stabilisation Fund by providing Rs.100 crore to control prices in open market, Amma Canteens that sell food at subsidised cost were among the measures the Chief Minister mentioned to address the issue of price rise.
