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The people’s newsroom

StatesTamil Nadu

Modi opens Chennai Metro stretch with Vijay, who presses for ₹5,110 crore school funds

On his first Tamil Nadu visit since the TVK government took office, the Prime Minister launched projects worth over ₹13,000 crore. Vijay used the stage to list what the state wants from the Centre.

From the editorial desk · ChennaiPublished
A Chennai Metro Phase 2 train
A Chennai Metro Phase 2 trainTamizhanEditor / Wikimedia

Key points

  1. Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened the Poonamallee-Vadapalani Metro stretch, built for about ₹4,900 crore, and rode it with Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay.
  2. The day's programme covered projects worth over ₹13,000 crore in Metro rail, railways, highways, ports, petroleum refining and brain research.
  3. Vijay asked for the pending ₹5,110 crore Samagra Shiksha share to be released without conditions, and for early approval of Chennai Metro Phase 3.
  4. It was Modi's first visit to Tamil Nadu since the TVK government took office; he said he would carry the state's development forward with Vijay.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday opened a new section of the Chennai Metro and rode it with Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay, on his first visit to Tamil Nadu since Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) government took office in May.

Modi landed in Chennai at about 11 am and was received by Vijay and Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar. AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami, whose party leads the NDA in the state, and Tamil Nadu BJP president Nainar Nagendran were also at the airport. BJP workers lined the road for a short roadshow as Modi left for Porur.

The new Metro line

The Poonamallee-Vadapalani stretch is part of Corridor 4 of Chennai Metro’s Phase II. It runs about 15 km with 11 elevated stations, cost about ₹4,900 crore, and includes a 3.7 km double-decker section. Its signalling is designed to support driverless trains.

Modi and Vijay rode together from Porur Bypass to Poonamallee Bypass and back. Passenger services began at 4 pm on Sunday. From 12 October, trains will run from 7 am to 9 pm in both directions.

The rest of the ₹13,000 crore programme included railway works worth over ₹750 crore, among them five redeveloped stations at Palani, Vellore Cantonment, Ambasamudram, Paramakudi and Namakkal, and national highway projects worth about ₹3,700 crore. Modi also laid foundations for a new coal berth and dredging work at Kamarajar Port and a lube oil base stocks unit at Chennai Petroleum’s Manali refinery, and dedicated the Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre at IIT Madras.

What Modi said

“Some will make daily travel easier; others will strengthen industry and trade,” Modi said of the projects. “Together, they will create jobs for young people across Tamil Nadu.” He said India’s Metro network had grown from 250 km in 2014 to 1,100 km, across 25 cities.

Modi recalled working with Tamil Nadu leaders of different parties: M. Karunanidhi and J. Jayalalithaa when he was Gujarat Chief Minister, and Jayalalithaa, O. Panneerselvam, Edappadi K. Palaniswami and M.K. Stalin as Prime Minister. Governments had changed, he said, but his resolve to develop the state had not, adding that “we are taking this journey forward with CM Joseph Vijay”.

What Vijay asked for

Vijay shared the stage and used his speech to set out a list of demands. “Strong states make a strong India,” he said. “When the Union and State governments work together, it should reflect in people’s lives.”

What Vijay asked the Centre for

  • ₹5,110 crore for schoolsThe pending central share of Samagra Shiksha funds, released without conditions.
  • Chennai Metro Phase 3Early approval, including the Koyambedu-Pattabiram stretch.
  • Metro beyond ChennaiA rethink on Coimbatore and Madurai, and sanction for the Hosur-Bommasandra line to Bengaluru.
  • High-speed railCorridors from Chennai to Coimbatore and Chennai to Kanyakumari.
  • Godavari-Cauvery linkTo be declared a national project on priority.
  • Tamil in the High CourtClearance for Tamil in Madras High Court proceedings, pending presidential assent.

The school funds are the oldest dispute on the list. The Union Education Ministry has tied the release of Samagra Shiksha money to the state implementing the National Education Policy 2020, including its three-language formula, and signing up for PM SHRI schools. Tamil Nadu has refused the three-language formula and argues that states should not lose education funds over policy differences. Vijay asked for the money to be released without conditions.

He also sought six-laning of the Chengalpattu-Tiruchirappalli stretch of the GST Road and other highway upgrades, and thanked Modi for the high-speed rail corridors linking Chennai with Bengaluru and Hyderabad announced in this year’s Union Budget.

The politics around the visit

The visit came a day after Vijay hosted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for lunch at his Chennai home. TVK heads the Secular Social Justice Victory Alliance, which includes the Congress, and Gandhi has been one of the loudest critics of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Vijay has not taken a public position on the SIR protests.