Union minister Jaishankar keen on clearing Parandur files

CHENNAI: State finance minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan on Thursday quoted the union civil aviation ministry as telling him that they were keen on clearing the files of the Parandur airport project sent by the Tamil Nadu government.

Thiaga Rajan told this to media persons after meeting union external affairs minister S Jaishankar, union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari and union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia at the national capital. Talking to media persons, he said that the minister (Scindia) told him that they have received the files pertaining to the Parandur airport project. "We are keen to expedite and clear the files pertaining to the Parandur airport project, " Thiaga Rajan quoted Scindia as telling him during the meeting, which happens a couple of days after three of his cabinet colleagues held talks with villagers from Parandur in connection with the airport project.

Stating that many multi-national firms were coming forward to invest and establish factories in Tamil Nadu, the finance minister said that the state governments have the duty to ensure that all such international investments, discussions and visits happen in conformity with the rules and under the watch of the ministry of external affairs. The meeting took place to discuss what the state expects and how it could partner with the union government to do better (on wooing investments to the state) within the broader framework of Indian Foreign affairs and investment relationship, he added.

Adding that he requested the union road transport minister to expedite the Madurai – Kochi highway project which has yet to start despite the Detailed Project Report being done in 2018, the minister said that the union minister offered some clarifications and proposed new financing models like insurance bonds instead of bank guarantee. PTR said that he would apprise the CM of the proposals made by the union minister.