CM Stalin: Centre denied Metro rail projects on flimsy grounds

CHENNAI: Chief Minister MK Stalin on Wednesday said his government would continue to fight for the implementation of Metro Rail projects in Coimbatore and Madurai, assuring that Tamil Nadu will secure them despite the Union government’s refusal.

Stalin said the Union government had denied Metro Rail for the ‘Temple City’ of Madurai and for ‘South India’s Manchester’, Coimbatore, on what he described as flimsy grounds. “Governments exist to serve people without bias. The BJP government considers Tamil Nadu’s democratic choice as reasons to take revenge,” he wrote.

He said that promoting a political trend in which BJP-ruled States receive Metro systems for smaller tier-two cities while opposition-ruled States are deprived was a “disgraceful approach”. “Tamil Nadu, the land of self-respect, will never accept such a distortion of federal principles,” he said.

Stalin added that the Centre had earlier attempted to stall the Chennai Metro, but the State government had countered those efforts and ensured that the project progressed. “With the same determination, we will secure the Metro Rail that Madurai and Coimbatore need for their future growth,” he said.

The Union government had rejected the Metro Rail project proposals for Coimbatore and Madurai, citing that neither city met the minimum population requirement of two million as mandated by the Metro Rail Policy, 2017. According to the 2011 Census, Coimbatore’s population stands at 15.84 lakh and Madurai’s at 15 lakh.