Dr. Senthil umar, a DMK MP, was caught lying on social media wherein he created a news card for himself in which he lied that it was because of his efforts that the Dharmapuri constituency has received ₹100 crore funds for the Dharmapuri-Morappu rail project.
Railway projects in Tamil Nadu, such as track renewals, doubling, and station development, has been budgeted for ₹6080 crores in the fiscal year 2023-2024. As part of the big capital infra push in the recently announced budget, the capital outlay for creating/upgrading rail infrastructure in Tamil Nadu has significantly increased. In Tamil Nadu, 27 projects worth 30,961 crores are currently under construction. During 2009-14, the average annual budget allocation for railway infrastructure improvement in Tamil Nadu was ₹879 crores. For 2023-24, the budget outlay for Tamil Nadu is ₹6080 Crores (7 times more than the average annual budget allocation during UPA2).
73 railway stations in Tamil Nadu were chosen for the Amrit Bharat Station scheme, which aims to modernize railway stations. Tenders totaling 1896 crores were recently awarded under the Amrit Bharat Scheme for the development of stations in Rameshwaram, Madurai, Katpadi, Chennai Egmore, and Kanniyakumari. A commercial feasibility study for six stations is currently underway: Chennai Central, Coimbatore Jn, Kumbakonam, Tambaram, Tirunelveli, and Avadi.
However, DMK MP Senthil Kumar attempted to project the funds allocated by the central government to the Dharmapuri-Morappur project as a result of his efforts. In a news card he shared, he congratulated himself on fulfilling his election promise of receiving ₹100 crores from the Central government for the Dharmapuri-Morappur project, a 70-year-old demand of the Dharmapuri constituency.
Soon after, netizens began to investigate the project and discovered that it was initiated by the BJP government well before DMK MP Senthil Kumar was elected to the parliament in 2019.
The tender document for Dharmapuri to Morappur project revealed that the work for the project started in the year 2016. Funds were allocated and the foundation stone was already laid in March 2019, before the DMK MP was elected to office.
The tender documents for the Dharmapui to Morappur project were widely shared on social media, causing embarrassment for DMK MP Dr Senthilkumar.
Tender works started in 2016.
Funds allotted and foundation stone laid in March 2019, before this MP was elected to Office.
Land acquisition initiated in 2022. https://t.co/FmiRbdp0jS pic.twitter.com/btaoi9MYxm
— Ethirajan Srinivasan 🇮🇳🚩 (@Ethirajans) February 7, 2023
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