[Mereebirl]

Chief minister J. Jayalalithaa on Wednesday vowed to make Chennai and other parts of the state a global hub for automobile and auto components manufacturing industry.
Categorically rejecting the charge by DMDK member Mafoi Pandiarajan that some auto majors were migrating to states like Gujarat and Maharastra due to issues like power shortage, Ms Jayalalithaa said that Tamil Nadu was in the forefront in automobile and auto components industry.

“In the next five years, we aim to make Chennai a global hub for automobile and auto components manufacturing,” she said.

Objecting to Mr Pandiarajan’s remarks that the state should allocate more funds to industries and medium and small industries since the present allocation was a meager 1.8 per cent, Ms Jayalalithaa said what was important was not the allocation from the government for the department, but the investment brought into the state through major industrial units.
Taking a dig at Mr Pandiarajan, she said the DMDK legislator had made efforts to learn of the industrial climate in Gujarat and Maharashtra, but he had not done his home work with regard to industrial growth in Tamil Nadu.
“Major industries such as Ford, Hyundai, Nissan, Saint Gobain and Mahindra have set up their units in Tamil Nadu,” she added.

As for the interest-free loan for common effluent treatment plants in Tirupur to achieve zero discharge as directed by the court, Ms Jayalalithaa said the government had in its hand the task of pacifying the farmers whose land had been polluted by the industrial effluents while ensuring the livelihood of the workers of the closed units.

Ms Jayalalithaa said the government had come forward to offer interest-free loan of `200 to modernise the 20 CETPs so that the units could be reopened and the workers could get employment.