Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party president K Annamalai met with reporters at Coimbatore on 22 February 2024.
When a reporter asked about the PMAY scheme being renamed as a state government scheme, Annamalai replied, “Through PM Awas Yojana, a beneficiary receives Rs 270000 as subsidy and the money is deposited in their account in the form of 3-4 installments. This amount is given by the central government. These people are confusing you. Before 2014, under the name of Indira Gandhi Yojana, the central government built homes for people. However, only 18 lakh homes were built. At that time, the subsidy given was less. After 2014, under PM Awas Yojana, the subsidy was increased to Rs 270000. This is not 30% as per their calculation. Today 4 lakh houses have been built. Some people add extra money above this subsidy amount and build their homes while others build it within this amount. So however you look at it, our BJP legislators have only questioned what right the state government had to name the scheme Kalaignar Karunanidhi Kanavu Illam (Dream House) Scheme. The central scheme is Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Prime Minister Housing Scheme. Why have they named it Professor Anbazhagan Scheme with no connection? Samagraha Siksha is a central government scheme. If you rename these schemes with local leaders’ names, are we doing that? This is a symbol of good governance. That is what Vanathi Srinivasan and Nainar Nagendran have been talking about both inside and outside the legislative assembly.”
DMK mouthpiece Sun News, owned by DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran’s brother Kalanithi Maran, published a “fact-check” on the amount that Annamalai had quoted. The now-deleted fact-check shared “information” on how the Tamil Nadu government was paying for 70% of each PMAY house. This deletion happened after Annamalai shared facts busting the so-called fact-check.
Annamalai on his X handle shared facts and figures on the PMAY scheme. He wrote, “So, here are some real facts:
1) Under the PMAY-U Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme, the Central Govt’s Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs provides interest subsidy to the National Housing Bank. The maximum interest subsidy under this scheme is ₹2.7 Lakh.
2) Between 2016-17 & 2022-23, the TN Govt received ₹5541 Crore as Central Share under PMAY-G & the overall utilisation (Central Share + State Share) was ₹6921 Crore.
It is evident that on the overall utilisation, the central government has spent 80% of the overall expenditure incurred on building houses under PMAY-G.
3) Drilling down a bit. Take FY 2022-23, for example;
Total central share released: ₹2004.39 Crores
Total Utilisation (including state share): ₹2290.47 Crore.
The TN State Government spent ₹286.08 Crore. However, TN State’s demand list has a different story to tell. TN Govt claims it spent ₹555.89 Crore in FY 2022-23 on roofing, an excess of ₹269.81 Crore than the actual utilisation. We will leave this for the TN Govt to explain to the Audit authorities. Summarising, the TN Govt’s claim to be spending 70% on every PMAY-G house is untrue.”
He also ridiculed the fact-checking team constituted by the state government and said it should call itself the Far from Truth team.
It is no surprise that the Gopalapuram News Channel comes in batting for data presented by the TN Govt’s fact checker, whose only work is to present the DMK government’s view as fact.
So, here are some real facts:
1) Under the PMAY-U Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme, the Central… https://t.co/vme3JtvHsR
— K.Annamalai (@annamalai_k) February 22, 2024
Following this lie getting busted, Sun News deleted the post.
அண்ணாமலை அண்ணன் அவர்களின் போடும் பதிவுகளை பார்ப்பது தான் இவர்களின் முதல் வேலை . அண்ணன் பதிவு போட்ட உடனே சன் டிவி போட்ட பதிவை நீக்கி விட்டார்கள் 😤😤.போலி பதிவுகளை போடும் @sunnewstamil முடக்கப்பட வேண்டும் #SunNews #PMAY #TamilNadu #Annamalai #BJP pic.twitter.com/FvX0xoFVz7
— SCV 🚩🇮🇳 (@Bharathasangi) February 22, 2024
This is not the first time Sun News has peddled fake news to show the DMK in a good light.
In January 2024, a video of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin’s hands trembling during the inauguration of the Chennai Sangamam festival went viral, sparking rumors about his health. Sun News deleted the original clip which showed the trembling hands of the CM and shared an edited clip that removed the footage of Stalin’s trembling hands. The original video was deleted sparking netizen curiosity.
In December 2023, in the wake of the floods in Tamil Nadu, Sun News spread fake news regarding Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statements in a press conference on 22 December 2023. The outlet claimed that Sitharaman stated Tamil Nadu flood damages couldn’t be declared a national disaster. However, Sitharaman had made no such statement, instead, she said that there was no practice of declaring state disasters as national disasters.
In November 2023, Sun News propagated misinformation, suggesting that the online gambling law applied uniformly. Contrary to this, the Madras High Court ruled on a series of writ petitions filed by the All India Gaming Federation and online gaming companies. The court upheld the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Online Gambling and Regulation of Online Games Act, 2022, but specified that it only applied to “games of chance” and not skill-based games like rummy and poker. The court also affirmed the state government’s authority to regulate online gaming aspects.
Sun News posted a video on social media platform X in September 2023 quoting Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party President K Annamalai’s speech during his En Mann En Makkal yatra. Annamalai was speaking about the lack of electricity at the Marudhamalai Murugan temple. The incident that Annamalai quoted at his yatra mentions how it was Chinnappa Devar popularly known as Sandow MMA Chinnappa Devar was instrumental in getting an electricity connection for the Marudhamalai Temple in Coimbatore. Sun News posted the video with the question, “Was DMK in power in 1962?” and shared a photo of the engraved inauguration stone mentioning MGR and Chinnappa Devar, trying to prove that they fact-checked the claim and it turned out to be wrong.
In September 2021, Sun News, through its official handle had put a news card in which it claimed that BJP workers collected garbage at the Besant Nagar beach on the occasion of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday and left the collected garbage in bags in the beach itself. However, BJP Tamil Nadu Youth Wing President Vinoj P. Selvam clarified that the garbage collected was taken in a corporation vehicle.
In June 2021, A tampered video of an elderly Muslim man being assaulted was shared widely which was also shared by Sun News saying that his beard was forcibly cut for not chanting ‘Vande Mataram’ and ‘Jai Shri Ram’. However, this fake news was busted.
In April 2021, Sun News peddled fake news about people dying due to a lack of oxygen supply at the Corona Special Ward of Vellore Government Hospital.
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