DMK instigating people against TN government: Minister

Tamil Nadu Municipal Administration Minister S P Velumani today accused the DMK of instigating the people against the government, particularly on drinking water issue.
"The state is witnessing an acute water shortage, both for drinking and irrigation, a situation not seen in the last 150 years," he told reporters here on the sidelines of a function.
The minister was reacting to a question over a road roko staged by over 500 women protesting shortage of drinking water at Thondamuthur in his assembly constituency, yesterday.
"DMK is instigating the people to agitate, as the constituency belonged to a minister...," he said.

The minister said he has initiated various schemes for the development of the area and people there should understand and decide accordingly as per their conscience.
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Velumani said Government has initiated various programmes for the development of schools and higher education.
About Rs 159.32 crore was spent for providing laptops to school and college students free of cost and nearly 1.02 lakh free laptops were given away to the beneficiaries.
The government has distributed over 1.97 lakh free bicycles to 11th standard school students at a cost of Rs 35.78 crore, he said.
The minister said that the state government was also concentrating on development of girls education, particularly from Most Backward Classes and minorities and had spent Rs 98.21 lakh and Rs 3.92 crore for them respecively.

An amount of Rs 91.06 crore was spent for education of SC/ST, he said.