CHENNAI: Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Wednesday urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to sanction an additional financial assistance of Rs 25,000 crore for development projects for Tamil Nadu partly as grant and partly as loan. On July 14, during her meeting with the PM, Jayalalithaa sought a special assistance package of Rs 1 lakh crore for fiscal consolidation and reduction of the debt level of the State.The CM, in her letter to the PM, said the package of Rs 25,000 crore would be judiciously used for various projects, which would in turn accelerate national growth. Jayalalithaa said her government had inherited a very fragile financial system, precariously poised on the brink of deterioration with very unsustainable deficits and enormous debts — the result of irresponsible and inept administration of the State finances by the predecessor DMK government. The present government has been taking requisite steps with grit and resolve to emerge from this slide by adopting daring measures, such as increase of VAT rates, State excise duty, bus fares, increase of milk prices, etc.Pointing out that power supply from the Central generating stations to Tamil Nadu has come down by 700 MW since last March, the CM urged the PM to direct the central generating stations to keep their commitment to Tamil Nadu. The CM also renewed her request for an additional allocation of 1,000 MW from the Central pool due to the unexpected delay in commissioning of the new power projects under the Central sector to tide over the present acute power crisis.Regarding the allocation of kerosene to the State PDS, the CM said it had been drastically reduced since last June. The earlier allocation of 52,806 KL per month was reduced to 44,580 KL per month from last June after the AIADMK government took over. Since the people of TN have been put to great hardship, she requested the PM to revert to the kerosene allocation to the levels that prevailed in April. She also requested the PM for a five per cent increase in the kerosene allocation from April 2011 level.
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