Tamil Nadu's growth up at 7.29 pc in 2013-14: Jayalalithaa

Countering charges of various political parties linking poor governance to lower growth in Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today asserted that Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) has increased to 7.29 per cent in 2013-14 from 3.39 per cent in 2012-13.
Refuting the charges by the parties linking poor performance to lower growth, she said growth in 2012-13 was lower as compared to other major States and also the national average of 4.45 per cent. However the reason for this was drought, failure of monsoon and deficit rainfall.
She said the government, barring Chennai, had declared all districts as drought hit and government had paid compensation and relief to farmers.

During the review period, agriculture growth nationwide was minus 13.04. However, Tamil Nadu achieved a record food grain production of 110.65 lakh tonnes (LT) in 2013-14.
Food production, which was 82.63 LT during the previous DMK rule, has gone up to 101.52 LT in 2011-12, which was another record, she said.
However, the same office has come out with statistics, which said growth rate of Tamil Nadu was 7.29 per cent as against the National average of 4.74 per cent, she said.
Reeling out statistics of power, she said government has taken steps to have additional 2,430 MW in this fiscal. It was instrumental in getting an additional 2,793 MW in the last three years and to receive 560 MW from the Kudankulam plant. Another 463 MW will be received once the second phase is commissioned, she said.

She listed out various developmental and welfare schemes of her government and others under various stages of implementation in infrastructure, road, health and educational sectors and said AIADMK was the only party which had succeeded in solving problems faced by people, as it respects people and democracy.