Chennai, Nov 16 (BPNS)
Tamil Nadu finance minister, PTR Thiagarajan on Tuesday sought the support of the Union government for the investment and infrastructure development of the state.
In a virtual conference with the Union Finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday, the Tamil Nadu finance minister requested the union government for continuous supply of Coal for the state as well as revival packages for the MSME in the state.
The meeting was convened by the Union Finance minister with the Chief Ministers and the state finance ministers to discuss steps to promote investments, infrastructure development, and investment growth in the country.
The Tamil Nadu finance minister told the Union Finance minister that steps be taken to ensure that there is an adequate and continuous supply of coal to the state. He also requested the Union Finance minister to help in the development of and access to supply from Chandrabila Coal block in Odisha.
He also called upon the Union government to provide a viable wind energy policy for the Tamil Nadu government highlighting the wind energy availability in the state. He informed the Union minister that this would improve the renewable energy development in the state.
He also called upon the Central government to bring up a comprehensive package for the MSME sector which was badly affected by the Covid -19 pandemic.
PTR Thiagarajan also requested the Union government to upgrade the entire length of Chennai- Kanniyakumari to eight lines in order to reduce the logistic cost for the industries.
He also said that the land transfer for Madurai airport to the Airports Authority of India was complete and called upon the government of India to declare Madurai as an international airport to facilitate more flights and trade to the Madurai region in South Tamil Nadu.
The State finance minister appreciated the Union Government’s National Single Window Portal (Maadhyam) for obtaining Government of India-related clearances from various departments.
He further recommended that aftercare services and grievance redressal mechanisms be included in the platform. The state finance minister also said that the state would work in close cooperation with the Union government.
PTR Thiagarajan also said that the Thoothukudu VOC port was of strategic importance to the country and has potential to be a trans-shipment hub and emphasized upon the master plan for development of Thoothukudi port be taken up soon.
