Rs 18,564 crore spent on Chennai Metro Rail phase II, FM’s claim wrong: Thangam hits back

CHENNAI: Rebutting the claim of union finance minister Nirmala Sitaraman that the Tamil Nadu government has only spent Rs 5,880 crore of the Rs 21,000 crore loan facilitated by the Union government for the CMRL (Chennai Metro Rail Limited) phase II project so far, Tamil Nadu finance minister Thangam Thennarasu on Friday clarified that the State government has spent Rs 18,564 crore so far.

Thennarasu also asked the Union Finance Minister to immediately release its share of Rs 7,425 crore for the central sector project.

Calling it his duty to present 'correct' and 'comprehensive' information on the issue in the public domain, Thennarasu, in a detailed point-by-point rebuttal statement issued late Friday night, said, "Actually, Rs 18,564 crore has been spent for the project so far. Of the amount spent, Rs 11,762 crore was spent from the Tamil Nadu government's own funds. Another Rs 6,802 crore was spent using the loans availed from foreign funding agencies. Not a single rupee of the Rs 7,425 crore of the Union government's share recommended by the Public Investment Board has been released so far."

Recalling the 2021-22 budget announcement of Nirmala Sitaraman that due funds would be released by the Union government for Chennai, Kochi, Bengaluru, Nagpur and Nasik metro rail projects, Thennarasu said that following the announcement, the union government approved Rs 30,399 crore, Rs 1,957 crore, Rs 6,708 crore, Rs 910 crore and Rs 12,200 crore for Metro rail projects in Bengaluru, Kochi, Nagpur, Pune and Thane, respectively, under Central Sector Project, but the Union government has not made any financial allocation for Chennai.

Pointing out that due funds and equity and subordinate debt were allocated for Maharashtra, New Delhi, Gujarat and Karnataka among other states in the 2024-25 budget, the Tamil Nadu finance minister said that there was no mention of budgetary allocation for Tamil Nadu. Wondering why no allocation was made for TN in the current budget, Thennarasu asked why step-motherly treatment was being meted out to TN. "We are made to doubt if it is being done to create financial distress for states and projects were being slowed down at the cost of public welfare for political reasons," Thennarasu said and appealed to the Union Finance Minister to release the government's share of Rs 7,425 crore recommended and allow the execution of the project as a Central Sector Project.