Chennai Mar 24 PTI Tamil Nadu is not a poor state but a developed one with over 90 per cent of the families owning cell phones and more than 75 per cent of the families living in their own houses said Finance and Human Resources Management Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan on Thursday Of the 75 per cent families owning houses 90 per cent lived in rural areas while 60 per cent were in the cities What is surprising is that 14 per cent among them say they live in houses either built for them or in accommodation provided by the government he said while winding up the debate on budget 2022-23 which he presented in the Assembly House on March 18 The Minister claimed that 66 per cent of households have two-wheelers constituting to over 26 crore two-wheeler population in the state More than 50 per cent of the families have fridges Thiaga Rajan said and asserted that Tamil Nadu is not a poor state but a developed one Quoting statistics he said 52 per cent of the people including a large number of women are not in workforce Our aim is to make them employable Also we have an ageing population with 15 percent of the elders living in rural areas while 10 percent live in urban areas he said These elderly citizens are in dire need of medical and financial assistance and they desire for companionship As Chief Minister M K Stalin has pointed out we are confronted with the problem of regional disparity in many sectors Not all eligible elders get the same amount of pension and destitute among them forfeit the old-age pension sum as they could not fill the forms or no one is around to help them the Minister said He claimed that the state was facing a biggest challenge through the GST wherein its financial autonomy has been taken away Training his guns on the opposition AIADMK the Minister accused that party of drastically weakening Tamil Nadus fiscal position due to administrative incompetence The situation worsened post the death of late chief minister J Jayalalithaa he alleged and claimed that even before the pandemic the then AIADMK government had projected a state revenue of only Rs 800 crore The administrative incompetence and wrong policies had weakened the fiscal position of the state further AIADMKs deputy leader O Panneerselvam who criticised our Budget should have been here for the reply Thiaga Rajan said He claimed a fiscal path is being laid out by the DMK government to reduce the revenue deficit in a phased manner The Finance Minister informed that a detailed project report DPR for the phase I of the Metrorail project for Coimbatore has been readied and a public hearing would be held soon The feasibility study for the Metrorail project for Madurai is apace and we hope to get the report by May Thiaga Rajan added PTI JSP SS SS

Chennai Mar 18 PTI The work to identify eligible beneficiaries of the assistance to women heads of families is on in full swing and the scheme in that regard would be implemented when the financial situation of Tamil Nadu improves Finance Minister of the State Palanivel Thiaga Rajan told the Assembly on Friday Providing the assistance of Rs 1000 to women heads is one of the poll promises of the DMK which stormed to power in 2021 The Minister said the scheme would be designed in such a manner that the benefits reach the deserving Based on this I assure you that this scheme will be implemented when the financial situation improves as a result of the various initiatives being taken by this government Thiaga Rajan said while presenting the Budget for 2022 - 23 He said Chief Minister M K Stalin has fulfilled many of the promises such as reduction in Aavin milk price waiver of loans for self-help groups and provision of pass for free travel on government buses with the intent that the advancement of women is advancement of the State The Chief Minister has instructed us to take all necessary steps to fulfil the next major commitment which is to grant basic income to women he said Implementing the scheme was difficult in the first year of the DMK rule owing to the precarious financial position he said However Id like to inform this august House that work is in full swing to identify the eligible beneficiaries from various databases and design the scheme in a manner that the benefits reach the deserving said Thiaga Rajan He said the DMK assumed office last year when the second wave of the coronavirus was five times more than that of the first wave Yet the Chief Minister fulfilled five major election promises on his first day in office and subsequently formulated a vision document for this government which intends to fulfil the remaining commitments in the manifesto the Minister said and added that the government would continue to fulfil its promises at an unprecedented pace The promises included many announcements made in the Budget session last year PTI JSP NVG NVG