Construction materials cost 100% more: Palaniswami

Construction materials cost 100% more: Palaniswami

AIADMK general secretary and former Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami alleged on Sunday that under the DMK government, the prices of construction materials had increased by 100%, compared with those that prevailed when the AIADMK was in power.

He was addressing party workers after hoisting the AIADMK flag at Kurumbapatti, Kavadikaranur, Vellakalpatti and Ettukuttaimedu in Salem district. Mr. Palaniswami said the DMK had promised to put construction materials on the list of essential commodities. “However, the government has an alliance with cement industry owners, and does not care about the cement price increase,” he said.

“We provided free laptops to 52 lakh students. But the DMK government stopped the schemes introduced by the AIADMK for the welfare of the poor,” he said.

Alleging that the DMK had not fulfilled its poll promises, Mr. Palaniswami said that by making false promises to come to power, the DMK had forgotten the people. “They had promised ₹1,000 in monthly assistance to every woman head of family. But the government now says only eligible women would get the assistance. Under the AIADMK government, the prices of essential commodities were under control. In two years, the vegetable prices have skyrocketed. The price of tomato is almost equal to that of apple. The Chief Minister is not worried about the people,” he said.

“We urge the people to vote for the AIADMK in the next Lok Sabha election,” he said.

Alleging that government funds were being wasted on the proposed pen monument to former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, he said, “We are not opposing the monument, but we urge the government not to spend public money on it. Instead of in the sea, the monument can be constructed at Karunanidhi’s memorial.”

He called upon the people of the Edappadi Assembly constituency to recall how it was before and after 2011. The AIADMK government provided bypass roads across the State and disbursed old-age pensions to the eligible beneficiaries. Under the DMK government, old-age pensions were reportedly stopped at many places, he said.