Centre Scraps Rail Project Saying Tamil Nadu Did Not Want It, DMK Responds

A scrapped railway project in Tamil Nadu has become the latest bone of contention between the state and central governments. The DMK has denied claims by Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw that the state government was not willing to go ahead with the project that would have linked the southern districts of Madurai and Thoothukudi.

During his recent Chennai visit, Mr Vaishnaw said that the project has been shelved since the DMK government had given it in writing they don't want to pursue the project.

Speaking to reporters after inspecting Amrit Bharat and Vande Bharat sleeper coaches at ICF Chennai on Friday, he had asked the state government to place service to people above politics. "We need the state government's support in land acquisition. We must make sure that people's facilities are above politics and we must look at the welfare of the people first," he had said.

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DMK Youth Wing accused the minister of "blatantly lying" and shared a letter in which Chief Minister MK Stalin had in August sought funds for the project. "Why is he saying it when the CM write a letter asking for a project and when in fact it is the Railways that has rejected the request stating frivolous reasons," the post read.

State Transport Minister SS Sivasankar also claimed that his government had never sought that the project be withdrawn - neither in writing nor verbally. Rather, he said they had been insisting on the implementation of the project and that such contradictory remarks show the centre's discriminatory nature towards Tamil Nadu.

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The project was announced in 2011-12. Southern Railway started working on it in 2016 and 18 km out of the 143.5 km stretch was completed between Milavittan and Melmarudur in 2022. Rs 324 crore has already been spent on the project.

The DMK, a key ally of the Congress, and the BJP-led centre had been at loggerheads over various issues. Another recent instance of the state government hitting out at the centre is MK Stalin's ripping remarks against Governor RN Ravi. The Chief Minister yesterday slammed his decision to not address the assembly session as "childish" and stated that he is unable to digest that the state was developing.