After being sworn in as the Chief Minister for the fifth time, Jayalalithaa signed in five files at her first day in office on a Sunday at Fort St. George.
In the Chief Minister’s chamber after a gap of seven months, Ms. Jayalalithaa gave the official nod for five schemes worth over Rs. 2,000 crore benefitting road users, urban poor and women.
The major thrust will be for urban and rural roads. She allocated Rs. 1,000 crore for urban roads, including those under Chennai corporation limits as it was necessary to repair roads dug up repeatedly by various agencies like Metrowater and those damaged in rains.
ADVERTISEMENT
For the rural roads, the government will spend Rs. 800 crore covering 3,500 km of road network of which 50 per cent will be spent on laying new bitumen roads and the rest for repairing the damaged roads.
Under this new expanded scheme, roads will be laid to hamlets without any road connectivity; strengthening of roads will be taken up on bus and mini-bus routes.
As industrialisation of cities increased housing demand in town panchayats, the Chief Minister had sanctioned green houses for 20,000 families in the initial phase. Each family will be granted Rs. 2.10 lakh; and poor in town panchayats living in mud or thatched houses were eligible for the scheme to be implemented by the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board.
ADVERTISEMENT
RO plants
Reverse osmosis plants will be set up at 69 residential areas in Sivagangai and Ramanathapuram districts not covered by drinking water schemes at Rs. 4.83 crore and 66 more in town panchayats at Rs. 3.90 crore. In corporation and municipal areas, 1,139 RO plants will be put up to provide safe drinking water in public places, hospitals corporations and Amma Canteens.
Ms. Jayalalithaa also allocated Rs. 100 crore this fiscal for a special scheme benefiting families with women as heads.