Coimbatore , DMK president and former Chief Minister M K Stalin on Wednesday expressed relief that the Periyar Arivulagam and Science Centre was nearing completion when the TVK took over, saying the project could have been shelved had his DMK government left it halfway.
The remarks come amid accusations from the DMK that the current state government, led by Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay, is stalling or shutting down various infrastructure projects initiated during the previous DMK regime. Had we stopped it midway, it would not have been surprising if this government had held a closing ceremony for it. Highlighting the DMK’s historical focus on establishing knowledge centres, Stalin recalled that the Anna Centenary Library in Chennai was set up during the then Chief Minister M Karunanidhi’s tenure.
“Fortunately, 99.75 per cent of the work on this library named after Thanthai Periyar has been completed.
Thankfully, it has survived,” Stalin told reporters here. The DMK leader, who visited the newly inaugurated facility along with Dravidar Kazhagam president K Veeramani, said he wished to see more such libraries established across the state. During his own tenure as CM, heading the ‘Dravidian model’ government, the Kalaignar Centenary Library was established in Madurai, he said. Detailing other projects initiated before the change in government, he said orders had been issued to set up a library named after Quaid-e-Millat in Tirunelveli, while work on a library named after veteran leader K Kamaraj in Tiruchirappalli was nearing completion and would be inaugurated soon.
