Tamil Nadu: FM Sitharaman announces project to detect and restrain livestock diseases

Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman conducted a review meeting with all public sector officers in Tamil Nadu's Virudhnagar district on Sunday. Dr L Murugan, Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting, Srivilliputhur Assemblymember Manraj, and Virudhunagar District Collector J Meghanatha Reddy were also present.

Following the review meeting, the Union Minister presented cheques for loan assistance to entrepreneurs and women's self-help groups in the state under the Central government's various schemes, and he visited the products exhibition set up in 23 venues by entrepreneurs who had previously taken loans from public sector banks to start their own businesses. Sitharaman also announced an initiative to detect and control animal diseases and their spread in humans and stated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Central government was not discriminatory in allocating cash to Tamil Nadu.

During a news conference, the Union Minister stated that she was visiting Virudhnagar for the third time to assess the district's challenges. "The authorities in this district are languishing in the enactment of a few projects of the Central government," she stated. "I am advising to expedite the project of contributing drinking water through household taps to alleviate the shortage of drinking water, especially in the Virudhunagar district," she added.

Sitharaman went on to say that, although the district has three pension systems for wage workers over the age of 60, the authorities are only promoting one of them. "I have also advised the bank officials to expedite the provision of necessary loan assistance to improve the lives of roadside traders and small traders and directed the district authorities to implement this scheme by March 2022, through which the farmers in Virudhunagar will be able to computerise their produce to other states in the country through the reward scheme," she stated. She stated that attempts had been made to establish a mobile veterinary team with a catchment area of one lakh livestock and recruit veterinary surgeons in the district, as most farmers in the district are engaged in animal husbandry.

Concerning the selling of firecrackers in the state, she stated that the federal government has never vetoed the manufacturing and sale of firecrackers and that in some states, the sale of firecrackers may have been impacted by court-issued orders. "If manufacturers and sellers ask us to fix it, essential action will be taken to solve the problem," she added.

In response to former Finance Minister P Chidambaram's criticism of the Centre's National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP), Sitharaman stated that Chidambaram, who is currently condemning the Centre, authorised the privatisation of Delhi Railways during his stint as finance minister.

Image: PTI