Tamil Nadu governor storms out of assembly after speech row

CHENNAI: The governor-government tussle in Tamil Nadu was on full display in the assembly on Monday, with chief minister M K Stalin objecting to governor R N Ravi skipping portions of the speech prepared by the state government and the governor leaving the house without waiting for the national anthem to be played. DMK legislators shouted, "Vaazhga Tamil Nadu!"
The assembly adopted a resolution by voice vote that only the printed text of the governor's address would go into the records. Barring the AIADMK and the BJP that walked out, the DMK, its allies, VCK, MDMK, CPM and KNMK endorsed the resolution. PMK members were present when the resolution was adopted.
The chief minister said the draft speech was sent to the governor a few days ago and he approved it. It was then printed and made available to all MLAs on the tabs placed on their desks.
Raj Bhavan sources, however, told TOI that the governor had expressed his objection "to certain portions in the text that were not factually right and stressed on DMK ideology".
The state government on Monday announced that the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority would create a new growth cluster through land pooling on 600 acres at Madambakkam. The state would also soon unveil policies to promote ethanol blending, green hydrogen and e-vehicles.
Governor R N Ravi, while making his customary address to the assembly, said land would be pooled with the consent of landowners and classified based on their use to promote planned development, while ensuring that the benefits of development are shared with the land owners.
Majority of the land owners had given willingness to participate in the project and work would be completed shortly, he said. "In the next phase, a satellite town is proposed to be created near Mamallapuram along the East Coast Road following the same model.
The upgradation of ECR as a four-lane road coupled with development of this satellite town will anchor future growth of the Chennai metropolitan area," Ravi said.
The government has been expeditiously implementing six large schemes at 1,334 crore, as a result of which 3tmcft of storage capacity would be added and 7tmcft of storage would be reclaimed, he said. Long pending projects like Thamirabarani-Karumeniyar-Nambiyar and Athikadavu-Avinashi are nearing completion, the governor said.
The government reiterated its commitment to construct a greenfield international airport at Parandur in Kancheepuram district. "The state government has begun preparatory works for setting up the airport.
This will help cater to the growing demand of air traffic, improve livelihood of the locals and further economic development of the state," Ravi said. Steps were being taken to procure 2,213 BS-VI buses and 500 electric buses with KfW funding and 1,000 BS-VI buses with state funding, and they would be deployed this year, he said.