In a strange move, Ministers P. Thangamani and S.P. Velumani, considered to be close aides of Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami, met Union Railway and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal in Delhi on Monday to seek grants for local bodies and houses for those displaced by Cyclone Gaja.
Mr. Goyal, who, as BJP’s Tamil Nadu in-charge, played a key role in negotiating an electoral alliance with the AIADMK through the two Ministers, does not handle the portfolios dealing with their demands.
Mr. Velumani, the Municipal Administration Minister, and Mr. Thangamani, the Electricity Minister, handed a memorandum with a set of demands to Mr. Goyal and urged him to get them fulfilled through the “concerned ministries (Sic)”.
Mr. Velumani requested the Railway 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.
He requested the 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 the Railway Minister's intervention for implementing certain railway infrastructure-related works in Tamil Nadu.
