Despite suffering setbacks in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and the recently held local body election, the AIADMK Government led byChief Minister Edappadi Palnaniswami is planning for some major initiatives to regain the confidence of the voters.
While last Sunday saw the Chief Minister declaring the entire Cauvery Delta region (the rice bowl of Tamil Nadu) comprising of the districts lying along the banks of River Cauvery as a Protected Special Agricultural Zone, making it a no-go area for major industries which are not in sync with ecology and environment, it is reported that the Global Investors Meets (GIM) held in Chennai in 2015 and 2019 have started yielding results.
The two GIMs saw the signing of Memorndums of Understanding to the tune of Rs 5,43,000 crore. According to sources in Fort St George (Tamil Nadu Secretariat) most of the MoUs are under various stages of implementation. The Chief Minister and his Cabinet colleagues are waiting for the right moment to declare the details like the number of people employed by the units which were already commissioned and the job potentials offered by the upcoming units.
“We may even come out with names and addresses of the persons who have been hired by those industries so that there would not be any doubts in the minds of political leaders and opponents of this Government about the authenticity of our achievement,” said a senior official in the secretariat.
Meanwhile , the announcement by the Chief Minister that Cauvery delta would be made a PSAZ has refurbished the image of the Government . Prof C Murukados, professor of economics, Madras University, said that the Government would not lose anything if the hydrocarbon and methane plants are not allowed clearance. “It is better not to have any industries in the Cauvery Delta region because the ecological and environmental degradation would be severe and drastic than the profits to be earned by corporate houses which were given license for setting up such projects. Other than these corporate giants, nobody in Tamil Nadu is going to make any gains because of the industries,” said Prof Murukados who himself has advised the Government from going ahead with industrialisation in the agricultural region.
S Semmalai, AIADMK MLA who is the senior most law maker in the party said that even companies who have been given clearance for setting up hydrocarbon and methane plants would be asked to stay away from the region. “The Government is well aware of the opposition to such projects. Though MoU has been signed for setting up a major refinery at a cost of Rs 50,000 crore, the location is outside the Cauvery Delta region and hence would become operational,” said Semmalai.
Political commentators like Govindarajan Satymurty are of the view that politics in Tamil Nadu is resembling a one-day cricket match with the AIADMK Government trying to score maximum runs in the slog overs. The question being asked is whether they would win the cup for third time in a row.