Chennai:Minister for electricity and law C.T.R. Nirmal Kumar on Thursday announced that the state will file a review petition in the Supreme Court against its order directing the eviction of over 15,000 families residing in the forest areas of the Western Ghats across Theni and several other districts.
Addressing reporters at the Secretariat, the minister said the government would not undertake any eviction until the review petition is heard.
“The review petition will be filed within a few days. Rumours are being spread that people will soon be evicted. The government is committed to protecting the rights of families who have been living there as farmers for over a century,” he said.
Responding to criticism from the Opposition over the state budget, Nirmal Kumar defended the government’s approach, saying welfare schemes introduced by previous governments should be continued if they benefit the public.
He said the revised budget focused on addressing people’s immediate needs, despite financial constraints, and highlighted the extension of the rural employment guarantee programme from 125 to 150 days with state support.
The minister said the government was working to improve Tamil Nadu’s financial position while ensuring that essential welfare schemes were implemented without placing an additional burden on the public.
He added that Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay would soon take a decision on minimum support price for paddy and support prices for sugarcane, after consultations with farmers’ organisations.
On demands for a complete farm loan waiver, Nirmal Kumar said the government had already waived loans in phases, including loans up to ₹75,000, benefiting more than 14 lakh farmers at a cost of around ₹5,600 crore.
He also defended welfare schemes providing gold assistance for marriage, saying they offered significant relief to economically-weaker families.
Rejecting Opposition allegations that ministers were excessively praising the Chief Minister in the Assembly, the minister said the Speaker had clarified that only unnecessary remarks, if any, would be removed from the records. He maintained that acknowledging the leadership of the Chief Minister was not inappropriate.
On the Cauvery dispute, Nirmal Kumar said the state had already moved the Supreme Court by filing two petitions — one against Karnataka’s proposed Mekedatu dam project and its failure to release Cauvery water, and another challenging the Union government’s guidelines relating to river basin projects in the Cauvery basin. “We will pursue every legal avenue to safeguard Tamil Nadu’s water rights,” he said.
The minister also reiterated that major electoral promises, including monthly financial assistance and other welfare measures, would be implemented once the state’s finances improved.
On the demand for an all-party meeting over the Cauvery issue, Nirmal Kumar said the government was consulting its alliance partners and noted that an all-party resolution had already been adopted in the Assembly.
Speaking on electricity tariff reassessment, the minister said more than 1.6 lakh domestic electricity connections had been re-examined, with only around 0.7 per cent showing minor discrepancies, mainly due to recording previous meter readings for locked houses. He said the official results of the reassessment would be released shortly.
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