To give a fillip to the industrial growth in Tamil Nadu, the State Government has identified an additional 45,000 acres to create an industrial land bank, out of which an acquisition of 14,000 acres has been completed. New SIPCOT parks are being established in industrially backward regions such as Thanjavur, Perambalur, Dharmapuri, and Theni districts, promoting balanced industrial growth, said Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi in his customary address, which he refused to read, to the Assembly on Monday.

The speech is prepared by the State government for the Governor’s customary address in the Legislative session. However, the Governor left the Assembly in three minutes, saying that the National Anthem was not sung. Speaker M Appavu read his speech thereafter. Last year, too, the Governor declined to read the text on the same issue.

The recent investment promotion visit of Chief Minister MK Stalin attracted over ₹7,500 crore of investments that will generate around 11,500 jobs, including Ford’s commitment to resumption of manufacturing in Chennai.

In total, since 2021, over ₹10 lakh crore of private investment commitments have been received in the State due to the untiring efforts of this Government, he said.

The State Government is making efforts to attract investments across all regions of the State, ensuring balanced and inclusive development. Foreign investments in the employment-intensive footwear sector are transforming industrially backward districts like Perambalur, Ariyalur, Villupuram, Kallakurichi, and Ranipet.

In the South, Thoothukudi is fast becoming a hub for Green Hydrogen projects, while Tirunelveli is home to significant solar cell and module investments.

The western region, particularly Coimbatore and Hosur, is emerging as a hub for IT, aerospace and defence, electronics, and electric vehicles.

The northern region continues its leadership position as the automobile manufacturing capital of the country. This regional diversity of investments reflects our Government‘s vision for equitable and sustainable progress across the State, he said.

On the Ease of Doing Business front, the Government recently launched the Self-Certification Scheme to facilitate fast and seamless building plan approval. In the last three months, 36,134 beneficiaries have applied for and obtained approval for online building plans without any manual intervention, he said.

Despite the State government’s persistent appeals to release funds under the Samagraha Shiksha Scheme, the Union Government has not released any funds to date in the current year, citing the non-implementation of the National Education Policy by the State. To the tune of ₹2,152 crore, these funds are critical for the functioning of schools, including teachers‘ salaries, maintenance and upkeep of school buildings and reimbursement under the Right to Education Act, the Governor said.

Due to the lack of funds released by the Uion Government, the state government has to bear the entire burden from its own resources, thereby severely affecting its finances. “The future of 44 lakh students, 2.2 lakh teachers and 21,276 staff members hinge on the timely disbursement of these funds and we hope that the Union Government will release these funds at the earliest,” he said.

To promote Tamil Nadu as a leading state in the spinning sector, the Government has sanctioned a scheme to provide ₹500 crore with 6 per cent interest subvention over the next 10 years towards technological upgradation.

Tamil Nadu is the only State to provide PMAY-G beneficiaries with a unit cost of Rs 2.82 lakh, with the State contributing ₹1.72 lakh, or 60 per cent of the total cost, he said.

On rural connectivity, in the last two years under the ‘Mudhalvarin Grama Salaigal Membattu Thittam’ 9,653 km of roads have been strengthened and renewed with an investment of Rs.4,000 crore. The scheme has been extended for a further two years to strengthen the road network by another 10,000 km, he said.

To facilitate the farmers to sell their agricultural produce across the country, 157 Regulated Markets in the State have been integrated under e National Agriculture Market (e-NAM). Since 2021, 19.60 lakh MT of other agricultural produce worth ₹5,779 crore have been transacted in e-NAM markets and e-payment to the tune of ₹4,055 crore has been made through the portal, benefiting 16.13 lakh farmers in the State. This has made Tamil Nadu a frontrunner in the overall transactions under e-NAM across the country, he said.

Acceding to the repeated requests of the Chief Minister to the Prime Minister in the last three years, the Centre has approved the long-pending demand of providing 50:50 equity share in the Chennai Metro Rail Phase – II. This will allow the Government to complete the project as originally planned, he said.

The 16th Finance Commission, led by Arvind Panagariya, visited the State and was presented with a compelling case on the State government’s demands. These included increasing the vertical devolution to 50 per cent, adopting a more equitable formula for horizontal devolution that rewards states for their performance rather than penalising them under the guise of redistribution and allocating resources to address specific challenges such as a rapidly growing urban population, frequent natural disasters, and an ageing demography.

“The Commission had expressed its appreciation on the State‘s Memorandum and we hope that the current Finance Commission adopts a progressive methodology as outlined by the Government,” he said.