CHENNAI: CPI on Sunday condemned the Union government for once again refusing to approve the proposed Metro Rail projects for Madurai and Coimbatore, alleging discrimination against Tamil Nadu.

In a statement, CPI state secretary M Veerapandian said the Union government had rejected the projects on the grounds that the two cities did not meet the minimum population criterion prescribed under the 2017 Metro Rail policy.

According to the policy, a city should have a minimum population of 20 lakh to qualify for a Metro Rail project. Veerapandian said Coimbatore, with an estimated population of about 15.8 lakh, and Madurai, with around 15 lakh, had been denied approval on this basis.

However, he pointed out that north Indian cities such as Agra, Bhopal and Patna, which had populations comparable to Madurai and Coimbatore based on the 2011 Census, had received approval for Metro Rail projects.

Calling the decision discriminatory, Veerapandian said denying approval to Metro projects in two of Tamil Nadu's major cities reflected the Union government's biased approach towards the State.

He urged the BJP-led Union government to abandon what he described as its anti-Tamil Nadu stance and immediately grant approval for the Metro Rail projects in Coimbatore and Madurai.