Major wasteland project to be launched

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, JULY 13. A major wasteland development project to tap 20 lakh hectares over five years is to be launched by the Government, the Chief Minister, Ms. Jayalalithaa, announced here today.

In a bid to harness the enormous extent of wasteland and provide a new thrust to rural development as well as employment generation, the Government proposed to take up four lakh ha. per year under the programme.

Addressing an interactive session with the national council of the CII, Ms. Jayalalithaa said the programme would also involve land reforms and exemptions under the land ceiling act.

The approach would be to set up horticulture farms extending from 200 to 1,000 acres.

The Chief Minister explained that these farms would require very deep borewells, up to 300 ft., and take up drip irrigation.

There could be an integrated approach through the establishment of food processing units, cold storage facilities and domestic as well as international marketing of the produce.

Answering questions from the council members, she said that in the course of her ongoing review of departments, she had identified water conservation as a major issue to be tackled.

She wanted to create a separate department to preserve existing water sources, purify them and look out for new sources as a long term solution.

To another question, Ms. Jayalalithaa said empowerment of women was a high priority area. It was planned to launch an entrepreneurship training programme to cover five lakh women in five years.

They would be eligible for soft loans to set up small enterprises.

Promising to make Tamil Nadu the Number One in industrial development and the most attractive investment destination in the country, the Chief Minister noted that the State was already a leader in Information Technology and was planning major strides in biotechnology.

Ms. Jayalalithaa said though Tamil Nadu was ahead in IT, it did not get the publicity that Karnataka or Andhra Pradesh secured.

There were 770 IT companies with an export of $ 660 million. TIDCO was in the process of establishing six `Bio valleys', making it a `knowledge-driven' economy.

She said power sector reforms would be taken up next year, when the State would also reach self-sufficiency in energy.

The focus would be on tapping hydel, thermal and non-conventional power.

Welcoming her, Mr. S. Mahalingam, Chairman, Southern Region, urged the Chief Minister to make Tamil Nadu the ``preferred investment centre'' and to assume leadership to bring about greater cooperation among the southern States.

The CII national president, Mr. Sanjiv Goenka, called for a ``partnership'' between the CII and Tamil Nadu and suggested that a joint task force be constituted to chalk out an action plan.

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Section  : Southern States
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