In a U-turn, TNCC chief KS Alagiri on Sunday came down heavily on Kamal TNCC CHIEF Haasan, who called the DMK “a corrupt party”, and said that DMK would decide its alliance partners in . He said he was not aware of CONDEMNS KAMAL Kamal’s criticism of DMK when he invited the actor to join their alliance

CHENNAI MONDAY 07 11�02�2019 Launch of hospital, metro line mark Modi’s brief visit to State PM dedicates ESIC med college hospital in to public, inaugurates Ennore coastal terminal and a crude oil pipeline from Chennai port to Manali refinery PM, CM jointly inaugurate last EPS hands over request to PM leg of Washermanpet metro line for Phase II funding sanction EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Chennai the project are: to EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE Siruseri, Light house to Poonamal- @ Chennai CHIEF Minister Edappadi K lee and Shollinganallur to Palaniswami on Sunday personally Madhavaram. THE much-awaited 9.9 km requested Prime Minister Naren- Out of the total project cost, the metro rail stretch which dra Modi to sanction Central fund- State and Centre would bear 20 per- was inaugurated on Sunday, ing for the second phase of the cent, each. The remaining 60 per- was received with much ex- Chennai Metro Rail Project. cent of the funds would be obtained citement by residents of The chief minister personally in the form of loans from interna- north Chennai who can now handed over a letter in this regard tional lending agencies. travel to central and south- to the prime minister on the side- The chief minister’s letter had ern parts of the City in less lines of a government function held highlighted that the Centre is yet to than 20 minutes. at Tirupur. The chief minister’s re- accord its approval to contribute The final leg of Chennai quest follows his earlier letter to the 20% of the funds. “Out of the total PM Modi and CM Edappadi K Palaniswami in Tirupur on Sunday | EXPRESS Metro Rail’s phase I stretch Union Minister (second from R) Hardeep Singh Puri and TN ministers MC prime minister on January 21 and project cost of `69,180 crore, the was jointly inaugurated by Sampath and D JayaKumar travel in metro after the inauguration | P JAWAHAR the proposal sent by the State gov- land cost and state taxes amounting EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Tirupur uty Chief Minister O Panneer- Prime Minister Narendra ernment on January 11. to `13,723 crore, is being met by the selvam flagged off the metro Modi and Chief Minister With the commencement Chennai resident. Highly placed sources in the State State government and the balance PRIME MINISTER Narendra service together. Edappadi K Palaniswami on of this pending stretch, The currently functional government told Express that the cost of `55,457 crore has to be fund- Modi laid the foundation for In the 10-minute event, Sunday via video conferenc- phase one of the metro rail AG DMS station at Teynam- Central government is expected to ed by the Centre (20 per cent), Gov- the ESIC Hospital in the city Prime Minister Modi then ded- ing from . project that started in 2009, pet will be connected to grant its approval very soon and an ernment of Tamil Nadu (20 per on Sunday evening. icated the ESIC Medical Col- Trains along the 9.9km officially completes a full Washermanpet station. MoU will be signed on the matter in cent) and the funding agencies (60 He also inaugurated the pas- lege and Post Graduate Insti- stretch which will connect circle. Passengers can travel Eight underground stations coming days. per cent), respectively. Hence, the senger service for the final leg tute of Medical Science and northern parts of the city to along this stretch at a cost including Washermenpet, The second phase of the Metro Central funding may be to the order of Phase-I of Chennai Metro, Research (PGIMSR) and 470- the southern, were flagged of `50- `60. Mannadi, High Court, Cen- Rail covers a length of about 118.9 of `11,100 crore spread over six and laid the foundation for an bed ESIC hospital at KK Nagar off by ministers and senior “We, the residents of tral, Government Estate, km. Three corridors covered under years,” he said in the letter. integrated building at Tiruchy in Chennai, Ennore Coastal officials including Fisheries North Chennai, are ex- LIC, Thousand Lights and airport and modernisation of Terminal, and a new crude oil Minister D Jayakumar, Min- tremely happy that we are AG-DMS will be open from Chennai airport via video pipeline from Chennai port to ister for Industries M C connected to the city M o n d ay, s a i d C M R L conference. Manali refinery. Sampath, CMRL managing through an technologically officials. Chief Minister Edappadi K Governor Banwarilal Puro- director Pankaj Bansal and advanced system. The im- Due to the ongoing trial Palaniswami too was present hit, Union Minister Pon Rad- others. Officials and their age of this part of the city runs in the 45 kilometre- at the event and presented the hakrishnan and State Animal family members travelled in will go through a complete phase one stretch of metro Prime Minister with a Husbandry Minister Udumalai the newly inaugurated makeover as CMRL has ar- rail, passengers can travel memento. K Radhakrishnan were among stretch with a female driver rived at Washermanpet,” for free along this stretch Modi, Palaniswami and Dep- those present at the event. being the loco pilot. said Muhammed, a north till Monday night.

‘Congress neglected defence sector, indulged in scams from seas to skies’

EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE Vaiko stages black-flag protest, arrested @ Tirupur Tirupur: MDMK leader Vaiko was one of the 500 people arrested for staging a black-flag protest opposing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s EVEN as Congress president visit near Tirupur. Meanwhile, there was commotion for a while at the Rahul Gandhi harps on al- protest venue after a BJP cadre reportedly hurled a slipper at the leged irregularities in the Ra- agitators. However, attempts of MDMK cadre to attack the woman were fale deal, Prime Minister Nar- foiled as she was secured by the police endra Modi charged the opposition Congress with ne- glecting the defence sector NDA government in Delhi is during its long years in power putting a lock on the corrupt at the Centre, alleging that the misdeeds of several people. party had indulged in defence This is exactly how the great scams from “seas to skies”. Kamaraj wanted a govern- In his second visit to Tamil ment to be run – where there Nadu in a month, Modi was is zero tolerance towards cor- addressing a BJP ral- ruption,” he said. ly at Perumanallur, He reiterated that near Tirupur after the government’s ef- launching a slew of f o r t t o g i v e completed projects. The NDA 10 per cent quota to B e g i n n i n g h i s government is the poor in the gen- speech by listing riv- putting a lock on eral category was ers in the region, the the corrupt. This is done “without alter- PM said a few words how the great ing the existing res- Kamaraj wanted a in Tamil and paid government to ervation system.” homage to historic be run Accusing the oppo- figures Tirupur Ku- sition parties against maran and Dheeran Narendra Modi the BJP government Chinnamalai, before of having no agenda launching into an attack on but to dislodge him, Modi the Congress and opposition. again termed the alliance as Not commenting on the Ra- maha milawat (great adulter- fale allegations, he instead ation). Singling out former charged that the defence sec- finance minister P Chidam- tor was only about brokering baram for criticism, Modi deals and benefitting friends said, “There was a very wise for the Congress, which had minister from Tamil Nadu, “not allowed modernisation the Recounting Minister... In of defence forces”. He said the his typical arrogance he said N DA g ove r n m e n t h a d -- why is the middle class so launched two defence corri- worried about price rise, they dors, one in Tamil Nadu. buy such expensive ice cream Speaking of his govern- and mineral water... The mid- ment’s efforts to end corrup- dle class does not need the tion, Modi, interestingly, in- taunts by you and the voked late Congress leader Congress. They have rejected and former chief minister of you and will continue to do Tamil Nadu K Kamaraj. “The so,” he said.

The huge crowd gathered at the public rally organised by the BJP at Perumanallur in Tirupur on Sunday | A RAJA