E-Paper
Budget 2021: Infra push, extra income for coastal communities in poll-bound TN
The budget has allotted ₹1.03 lakh crore for 3,500 km of national highway works across the state for which construction will begin next year
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s budget saw an allocation for several new projects in four poll-bound states including Tamil Nadu. The budget focused on infrastructure push and livelihood creation among coastal communities in the southern state.
The budget has allotted ₹1.03 lakh crore for 3,500 km of national highway works across the state for which the construction will begin next year. This includes a Madurai-Kollam corridor and Chittoor-Thatchur corridor which connects Tamil Nadu’s districts with neighbouring states of Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.
The state also comes within the scope of work to improve connectivity on the western coast -- a 600 km section of Mumbai- Kanyakumari corridor in Kerala is included in the 1,100 km of national highway works in Kerala at an investment of ₹65,000 crore.
Also read | 4 poll-bound states get funds for developing road infrastructure
Funding will be provided to 118.9km Chennai Metro Railway Phase-II and also for two expressways.
The construction of the controversial Chennai-Salem corridor of 277 km expressway will start in 2021-22. The eight-lane expressway meant to cut travel time by three hours between Chennai and Salem has been opposed by farmers since its announcement in 2018 due to loss of lands and livelihood. But a Supreme Court judgement in December 2020 upheld the land acquisition notifications.
A 278km Bengaluru-Chennai Expressway will also be initiated in the current financial year.
Coastal Tamil Nadu will benefit from a multi-purpose seaweed park proposed to be established to “promote seaweed cultivation” and “provide large scale employment and additional incomes”, the budget order read. “Seaweed farming is an emerging sector with potential to transform the lives of coastal communities,” Sitharaman said.
Coastal city of Chennai is also among the five major fishing harbours, announced across the country, to be developed as a hub of economic activity. “I am proposing substantial investments in the development of modern fishing harbours and fish landing centres,” said Sitharaman. The other harbours will be in Kochi, Visakhapatnam, Paradip, and Petuaghat. Inland fishing harbours and fish-landing centres along the banks of rivers and waterways will also be developed in these places.
