THENI

“I don’t think there is any truth in the Chief Minister’s foreign tour to attract investments. It’s a gimmick. Without improving the investment climate in the State, how can you bring more investments. At a time when factories and industries are shutting down, deserting Tamil Nadu and moving to other States, it is not practical for new industries to come in,” said CPI(M) state secretary K. Balakrishnan.

Speaking to reporters at Theni on Tuesday, he said that the government should rather sincerely work to ensure a conducive investment climate in the State. “Poor implementation of GST and flawed decisions by the Central government have already caused a huge dent to the economy. There’s no income and no spending power, leading to stagnation in business. The agriculture sector has also taken a severe beating,” he said.

“The State government conducted an investors’ meet but has it so far issued a detailed report on how many companies invested and the total amount of investment secured,” he asked.

He added that the Central government should take steps to bring back black money stashed in foreign countries. “Banks crack down on poor farmers and common public if they fail to repay loans but corporate bigwigs who have usurped huge money are happily living in foreign countries. There is an irony in the approach of the BJP government,” said Mr. Balakrishnan.

Tamil Nadu government has been making only temporary makeshift plans to tackle water problem. “Hundreds of crores have been spent on bringing water to Chennai on train from Vellore. If the same amount was spent on upkeep of waterbodies, the crisis would not have come up. There is no long-term vision in these solutions. Even the kudimaramathu scheme is a big farce to siphon off funds ,” he alleged.