Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Friday made 16 announcements for five departments - personnel and administrative reforms, school education, higher education, forest and information technology - under Rule 110. He made these announcements during zero hour in the Assembly.
The upper age limit for those who appear for the examinations being conducted by the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission for the services falling under Group I, IA and IB would be raised. For the candidates belonging to the SC/ST/MBC/BC and Denotified Communities, the upper age ceiling would be increased from 35 to 37 and for the rest, the age ceiling would be raised from 30 to 32.
Stating that the government had already made arrangements for providing drinking water to students in all schools, the CM said that in accordance with the number of students in 2,448 government high schools and higher secondary schools, protected drinking water would be provided at a cost of Rs 48.96 crore.
With a view to facilitating the students of government primary and middle schools to learn their lessons through information technology, 2,283 smart classes would be set up at an expenditure of Rs 42.92 crore. All teachers in government schools would be given in-service training in the new syllabus being introduced from this academic year. Besides, training for upgrading leadership qualities would be given to the headmasters while officials engaged in inspection would be imparted training in modules for the National Teacher Portal. All these would be carried out at an expenditure of Rs 35.14 crore.
The Chief Minister said Rs 16 crore would be earmarked for upgrading 32 schools chosen from 32 districts of the State as model schools. Using this fund, infrastructure facilities would be upgraded and quality of teaching in accordance with the advancements in science and technology would be improved. The smart cards being given to the students of government schools would be improved with new aspects including Aadhar card No, at an expenditure of Rs 11.25 crore.
All 41 constituent arts and science colleges of various universities in the State would be converted into government arts and science colleges from this academic year. For this purpose, Rs 152.20 crore would be spent. Stating that during the previous academic year, 1,232 new courses were introduced in government arts and science colleges, the CM said that from the current academic year, 264 new courses (68 undergraduate courses and 136 postgraduate courses and 136 research courses) would be introduced. To handle these new courses, 683 new assistant professor posts would be created and 324 new classrooms, 50 laboratories and other facilities would be created at an expenditure of Rs 62.75 crore.
Besides, the government would also incur a recurring expenditure of Rs 68.46 crore per year. Hostels having 50 rooms to accommodate 150 students would be constructed in six government engineering colleges functioning at Bargur, Coimbatore, Karaikudi, Salem, Tirunelveli and Vellore, at a total cost of Rs 37 crore. Information Technology buildings would be built at ELCOT SEZ in Vilankurichi village in Coimbatore district and in Tiruchy. While the building at Vilankurichi would come up at a cost of Rs 100 crore, the building at Tiruchy would be constructed at a cost of Rs 40 crore.
This would facilitate the entrepreneurs to start their IT and related ventures. To ensure uninterrupted and safe internet services, the State government would implement a scheme called Cyber Security Architecture for Tamil Nadu at an allocation of Rs 21.39 crore. At present, the Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation is giving standard definition (SD) services to its customers. Hereafter, high-definition (HD) services would be given to them and to enable this, HD set-top boxes would be distributed to them.
The deciduous forests in Tamil Nadu are prone to catching fire during drought period and most of such forest fires take place due to human errors. The Forest department is taking many steps to control forest fire. Since the deciduous forests spread to a larger extent, training would be given to field officers and personnel in controlling forest fire and in rescuing the people caught in fire accidents. Special equipment would also be provided.
This would be carried out at a cost of `two crore. Stating that at present, the headquarters office for the Forest department was functioning in Saidapet in a small space, the CM said that a new headquarters for the department would be constructed at Velachery at a cost of Rs 30 crore. Besides, 125 new jeeps would be purchased for the department at a cost of Rs 12.50 crore. Palaniswami said a village would be created along Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve in Erode district to highlight the cultural values of the tribal communities in Tamil Nadu and a museum would also be established there.
