Panel soon to spruce up girivalam path: CM Stalin

TIRUVANNAMALAI: A committee headed by the Collector and including representatives of HR&CE and local bodies would be formed to ensure rectification of problems in CCTV cameras, power and announcement facilities in the 14 kilometres girivalam path in Tiruvannamalai which encompassed the municipality and four village panchayats, Chief Minister MK Stalin said.

The Chief Minister was laying foundation stones for 246 new schemes estimated at Rs 340 crore and inaugurating 91 completed schemes worth Rs 70.27 crore and also handing over government benefits worth Rs 693 crore to 1.71 lakh beneficiaries at an official function in Tiruvannamalai on Saturday. “The new committee will ensure streamlining of recurring expenditure in this regard,” he said.

Similarly, a total of 75,000 tribals in 20 hill villages in the Jawadhu Hills connecting Vellore and Tiruvannamalai districts would benefit as based on demand the government had prepared a Rs 140 crore plan to renovate and upgrade the Pramanandal-Jamunamarudur-Amirthi road.

“The work would be done once the forest department provided the necessary sanction,” said chief minister MK Stalin

Lauding the various schemes being implemented in Tiruvannamalai district he said they should be emulated by other districts. The district administration creating 1,121 farm ponds in 30 days had resulted in water levels in those areas increasing by 6 to 7 feet. The ponds were now being used to rear fish by the fisheries department, he said. “Similarly, the country’s first fuel outlet managed by SHGs in Thellar panchayat union was today earning Rs 1.30 lakh daily,” he said.

He also lauded the country’s first tribal initiated by 2,500 members of SHGs to market forest products, saying that the district ranked first in the state in ground nut production and third in paddy production. “Also underway in the district were integrated farm parks and a bee park in Jamunamarudur,” he added. “Renovation work estimated totally at Rs.60.94 crore was currently underway in 131 temples.”

The Chief Minister earlier inaugurated minister EV Velu’s Medical College and Hospital on the Tirukoilur road.