730 crore free journeys have been made by women under Vidiyal Payanam scheme: Udhayanidhi Stalin

NAMAKKAL: Several states in the country are adopting Tamil Nadu's initiatives aimed at empowering women, deputy chief minister Udhayanidhi Stalin said on Thursday. He said around 730 crore free journeys have been made by women in the past four years under the 'Vidiyal Payanam' initiative of the state govt (cashless travel for women on govt buses). This includes 158 million journeys in Namakkal district.

Udhayanidhi was addressing a gathering at a govt event in Namakkal where he inaugurated several completed projects and distributed welfare measures.

He mentioned welfare schemes like the Tamil Pudhalvan scheme, which supports eight lakh students with monthly assistance of Rs 1,000, the breakfast scheme benefiting 20 lakh school students and the Kalaignar Women's Entitlement Scheme, which has provided Rs 1,000 each to 1.15 crore women for over the last 22 months.

"New applications for this Kalaignar Women's Entitlement Scheme are being accepted, and our chief minister has eased the eligibility criteria for it," he added. “The govt led by our chief minister is dedicated to serving the people in this manner,” he said.

He appealed to the attendees at the event to serve as brand ambassadors of the govt, encouraging them to communicate its initiatives to others. "You all should act as brand ambassadors of this govt," he stated.

The deputy CM inaugurated 39 completed projects worth Rs 11.57 crore, laid the foundation for 141 new projects worth Rs. 89.22 crore and distributed welfare assistance totalling Rs 40.86 crore to 2,099 beneficiaries.

The event saw participation of women, disabled people, farmers and athletes. “This single event exemplifies that our govt is inclusive and serves everyone. "By providing welfare measures to 2,000 individuals, we are benefiting 2,000 families," he said.

Udhayanidhi said Namakkal district stands out in areas like education, industry and agriculture. He highlighted several new initiatives for the district, which include the Namakkal Ring Road with an estimated budget of Rs 200 crore. Road access has been provided to the hill village of Bodhamalai at an estimated cost of Rs 140 crore. The Salem Central Cooperative Bank has been divided into two to form the Namakkal Cooperative Bank. Additionally, Aavin High Tech Dairy Farming is set to be established with an investment of Rs 90 crore. On behalf of the Sports Development Department, a mini stadium is planned to be constructed in three assembly constituencies -- Namakkal, Rasipuram and Senthamangalam, he said.

Adi dravidar welfare minister Dr M Mathivendhan, Rajya Sabha member KRN Rajesh Kumar, additional secretary for the special programme implementation department S Uma and district collector Durga Murthy were among those participated.

Later, the deputy chief minister held a meeting with officials from the district administration.

Earlier, he had led a road show and held a meeting which saw the participation of more than 3,000 DMK cadres.