Electricity Minister P. Thangamani and Municipal Administration Minister S.P. Velumani, who met Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday over issues largely unrelated to the Railways Ministry, called on Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi on Tuesday, again over the same issues, which ordinarily do not fall under the purview of the Home Ministry.
Though the sanctioning of two lakh houses for Cyclone Gaja-affected districts was among the major requests made to the Union Minister, neither the Deputy Chief Minister, O. Panneerselvam (handling the housing portfolio), nor the Minister for Revenue and Disaster Management, R.B. Udhayakumar, were present at the meeting. The memorandum stated: “On behalf of the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, I convey my heartiest congratulations to you on assuming the Office of the Ministry of Home Affairs under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modiji.” In the memorandum, Mr. Velumani requested the Home Minister to release the performance grant of ₹560.15 crore for 2017-18 and the second instalment of the basic grant of ₹1,608.03 crore for 2018-19 for the rural and urban local bodies of the State, under the 14th Central Finance Commission. Interestingly, the dues for local bodies are dealt with by the Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj.
The memorandum requested the Home Minister to sanction two lakh houses under the PMAY(G) special project for Cyclone Gaja-affected districts and permit the State to sanction the houses to eligible beneficiaries, irrespective of their community, by relaxing the 60:40 (SC/ST:Others) ratio prescribed in the PMAY(G) guidelines by the Union Ministry of Rural Development.
The memorandum also sought his intervention for implementing certain railway infrastructure-related works in Tamil Nadu.
Mr. Thangamani did not submit a separate memorandum.
