On her first visit to Delhi after her Assembly election victory, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Tuesday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and submitted a 29-page memorandum listing the demands of the State, including formation of the Cauvery Management Board and a water regulation committee.
During the meeting at the Race Course residence of the Prime Minister, she also demanded the restoration of water level at Mullaperiyar dam to 152 feet and early commissioning of Unit 2 of Kudankulam nuclear power plant.
Interlinking of rivers, retrieval of Katchatheevu Island and inclusion of fishermen in the Scheduled Tribes list are also part of Tamil Nadu’s memorandum. She also urged the Centre to set up an All India Institute of Medical Science in the State along with addressing the issues related to NEET in the State.
Soon after her arrival in Delhi, she met 50 MPs (both lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha) of her party, the largest regional group in Parliament, before she drove to Modi’s residence. lok Sabha Deputy Speaker Thambidurai, Special Advisor Sheela Balakrishnan and TN Chief Secretary Rama Mohan Rao accompanied her.
The Sri lankan Tamils issue, lifting of the ban on the bull taming sport Jallikattu and declaring Tamil an official language were also among the demands made by the Chief Minister.
Union Minister Nirmala Sitaraman and Pon Radhakrishnan also called on the Jayalalithaa in Tamil Nadu house in the evening.
The memorandum described as “meagre recompense” the release of Rs 552 crore by the Centre to Tamil Nadu from the special allocation made in the Budget for schemes to be approved by Niti Aayog.
“I request you to enhance the annual special grant to Tamil Nadu to Rs 2,000 crore in each of the remaining four years of the 14th Finance Commission award period up to 2019- 20.
“We have a ready shelf of large projects that could be funded out of this special allocation, including the comprehensive special package for the diversification of fisheries, desalination projects and several infrastructure projects under the Vision Tamil Nadu 2023,” the Chief Minister said in the memorandum.
Referring to release of further assistance towards restoration and reconstruction in the wake of last year’s floods, it said the Government of India has so far released only Rs 1,737 crore from the national disaster fund against a demand of Rs 25,912 crore for temporary and permanent restoration.