: Railway Minister Piyush Goyal Sunday likened the governments led by his party at the Centre and the one steered by the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu to "double engines" that would ensure progress with double the speed.
Concurring with Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam's remark that people will gain if the Centre and State worked with synergy, he said it will ensure double progress.
Participating in the Prime Minister's 'Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana' launch in Tamil Nadu, he said, "when the Central and State governments work together as friends, you can see double progress and double speed of progress."
"You all know that in a train if you put a double engine the train goes faster."
Stating that Tamil Nadu people "are very smart," he asked "am I right?," to which the audience replied "yes."
He said "with your blessings, of farmers, the people of Tamil Nadu and Amma (late Jayalalithaa) we will go to work for a better future for our people."
The Deputy Chief Minister said the Information Technology infrastructure of the state enabled the smooth roll out of the kisan plan, a "major path breaking scheme."
The payout of Rs 2,000 has started today and "I must compliment the Tamil Nadu government, which already sent the first list of more than 20 lakh names (of beneficiaries) to Delhi."
"This list will be put up in the gram panchayat and after that if any names are left out, still it can be added."
"The scheme is not a favour we are doing to the farmers. It is a mark of respect people of India gave to farmers who give foodgrains and are making India self sufficient so that nobody has to go hungry."
The Minister, who earlier participated in another function on the Kisan scheme in the city, said "this money (Kisan yojana) cannot be adjusted against the loan account. it will be money available to farmers in their account."
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