Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay on Monday announced expansion of the fare-free bus travel scheme for women and made services such as deluxe and express free for beneficiaries.
Making several announcements in the Assembly, Vijay, fulfilling TVK’s key pre-poll promises, announced three free cooking gas cylinders and also declared that the Parandur greenfield airport project will be shelved.
3 LPG Cylinders for each family
Vijay announced three free LPG cylinders per family every year. The LPG benefit is linked to the “Annapoorani Super Six” scheme.
The announcement initially provides three cylinders annually, rather than the six cylinders Vijay had earlier promised during the election campaign.
The Annapoorani Super Six scheme e is expected to be implemented from Pongal in January. Vijay said it will benefit around 1.3 crore families in Tamil Nadu.
“This will reduce the burden of the people who have been spending extra amount to obtain the cylinders. The government has decided to provide the cost of the cooking gas cylinders. Three free LPG cylinders will be given in the first phase and the price for cylinders will be directly credited into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries,” Vijay said, amidst loud thumping of tables by the Treasury.
The move will benefit 1,30,16,104 families with an annual income of nearly ₹2.5 lakh, economically backwards families, small and medium farmers’ families, differently abled families, and low-income families.
“The preparatory work has commenced and the scheme will be launched this Pongal (mid-January) 2027 festival,” Vijay said and added the state government will allocate ₹4,000 crore per annum for this initiative.
Free Bus Travel for women
Vijay also announced an expansion of the existing free bus travel facility for women. The announcement includes free bus travel for transgender persons.
Tamil Nadu already has a free travel programme for women on ordinary government city and town buses.
“There will be no riders like income ceiling or number of trips for women to avail fare-free bus travel – Vettri Payanam,” Vijay said, making a statement under Rule 110.
The scheme – Vettri Payanam – is borrowed from Vijay’s party the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, meaning “journey to success.”
Women can also travel free of charge on Express, LSS, and Deluxe government buses operating in metropolitan and urban areas and also on regular fare buses in suburban (Mofussil) and hilly areas.
This scheme will be rolled out on October 2, coinciding with Gandhi Jayanthi, he said and added the move will entail the state government an additional expenditure of ₹6,000 crore per annum.
Parandur airport scrapped
Vijay also announced that the Parandur greenfield airport project will be abandoned and an alternative site will be identified for the airport project.
The TVK government, Vijay said, stands firmly with the people and would not allow an airport to disrupt the local communities. Nearly 55 percent of the land chosen for the project comprised crucial waterbodies and wetlands, making runway operations highly unsafe and risking severe flooding in the area.
Vijay said the state has planned to establish a fifth terminal on the north-western side of the Chennai International Airport, Meenambakkam, to augment the airport’s annual passenger handling capacity by an additional 20 million. Once the ongoing work at the third terminal is completed, the airport will handle 35 million passengers per year.
“The passenger handling capacity will totally increase by 55 million passengers through these two terminals,” he said.
Local farmers, landowners and villagers primarily led by Ekanapuram villagers staged a massive protest in which environmental advocacy groups too joined. They claimed that about 2,500 villagers and farmers would be displaced, affecting their livelihood if the project comes up.
Stalin slams Vijay
DMK President and former CM MK Stalin hit out at Vijay for dropping the Parandur airport project when the land acquisition process had been almost completed and said Tamil Nadu’s interests cannot be “mortgaged for petty political considerations.”
Terming the rejection of the project proposal, conceived during the DMK regime, as a massive disappointment, the former CM said the decision is an irreversible setback for Tamil Nadu’s growth.
“The announcement made today by the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu to drop the Parandur International Airport project will set the state’s development back by several years. Tamil Nadu’s interests cannot be mortgaged for petty political considerations,” the DMK chief said in a statement here.
Bonanza for MLAs
Vijay announced official vehicles and a monthly allowance of ₹one lakh each to address public grievances in their respective constituencies.
To support administrative tasks and vehicle maintenance, the government will provide an allowance of ₹75,000 per month, including fuel and driver costs, and ₹25,000 per month to hire a personal assistant to help manage constituency work, the CM said.
So, each of the 234 MLAs of Tamil Nadu will get ₹1 lakh each month. This amounts to ₹28.08 Crore expenses on the state exchequer.
365 days of maternity
Women working in the state government will now be entitled to 365 days of maternity leave for a third child, bringing it in line with the leave available for the first two children.
The announcement was criticised by TVK rivals. DMK spokesperson TKS Elangovan said that Tamil Nadu was the first state to follow family planning and encouraged couples to have not more than two children.
100 days of TVK Govt
Vijay’s government recently completed its 100 days.
In its first assembly election, the TVK won 108 seats in the 234-member Assembly in May emerging as the single largest party but falling short of a majority. It formed a coalition government with the Congress, IUML, and VCK, while the two Left parties extended outside support.
In the last few weeks, Vijay’s government has announced a series of major measures under Rule 110, covering milk procurement prices, medical education, healthcare infrastructure, and insurance coverage.
Rule 110 of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly allows the Chief Minister or a minister to make a formal statement or announce major government policies and schemes on matters of public importance without permitting an immediate floor debate or questions from the opposition.
The TVK government stands firmly with the people and would not allow an airport to disrupt local communities.
Last Wednesday, Vijay announced a series of welfare measures, including extending 365 days of maternity leave for women state government employees for a third child and enhanced benefits for MLAs. He made announcements via Rule 110 earlier this week, too.
