Chennai: Chief Minister Vijay on Tuesday announced that applicants who clear the driving test will receive a digital driving licence on the same day. He also said cases registered against farmers and teachers during the DMK government would be withdrawn.
Making a Rule 110 statement in the Assembly on municipal administration and drinking water supply, the Chief Minister outlined a series of urban infrastructure initiatives. Among them are waste-to-energy projects in Tirunelveli and Salem corporations, with a combined outlay of Rs 547 crore to generate 9 MW and 10 MW respectively.
He said road relaying and new road works would be taken up across urban local bodies, including Chennai, at an estimated cost of Rs 1,850 crore. Additional works include safer road facilities around schools and upgrades at 105 junctions for Rs 110 crore, along with similar improvements in other corporations under an integrated urban development plan totalling Rs 275 crore.
On sewerage and water supply, Vijay announced a first-phase overhaul of Madurai corporation’s 40-year-old underground drainage system at Rs 2,400 crore during the current year. New underground sewerage schemes will be implemented in Nagercoil corporation’s left-out and newly added areas, and in Kundrathur and Nandivaram-Guduvancheri municipalities at Rs 960 crore.
He also listed multiple drinking water projects, including upgrades in parts of Chennai such as Perambur, Kolathur, Villivakkam and Egmore at Rs 236 crore, and a desalination plant at Minjur to supply 400 million litres per day for North Chennai, Avadi, Ponneri and Minjur at Rs 4,800 crore. Other announcements covered 24x7 water supply in Avadi (Rs 500 crore), improvements in Madurai and Cuddalore corporations and several municipalities and town panchayats, capacity enhancement at the Kilpauk water treatment plant, large and new parks, school infrastructure works, and tourism and heritage projects in Chidambaram, Cuddalore and Kanyakumari.
