Since the announcement of building the Secretariat in Pattinapakkam, opposition parties, as well as the Left parties in alliance with the TVK, including the CPI, have been voicing their opposition. The people of Pattinapakkam have also opposed this project. In this situation, Minister Arunraj met reporters in Namakkal and spoke. At that time, he said, ``The effort to build the Secretariat in Pattinapakkam is like a one-time capital investment. The Chief Minister’s intention is that the Chief Minister, ministers, and government officials should work together in a single integrated building so that our legislature and government departments can function with all facilities for the next hundred years and beyond.
The current Secretariat building is 300 years old, so there is severe space shortage. There is also no way to meet the public and hear their demands. That is why we have announced this building project using state-of-the-art green technologies. Although the opposition parties are criticizing this as usual, it is a decision taken in view of the needs of the times.
It has only been 100 days since we formed the government. The current law and order issues and the drug culture are the result of practices that were not properly maintained during the previous administration. However, the Leader of the Opposition and the DMK are trying to create a false impression as if there were no crimes in the past and as if law and order has deteriorated only in these 100 days. In a democracy, both the ruling party and the opposition are important. It is our wish that the opposition should function constructively. But when they try to blame the government with political motives, that is when we are compelled to respond.
During the previous DMK regime, although new hospitals were opened, no new posts were created; instead, staff were merely shifted from other places. Even though 11 new medical colleges were started, specialists in high-demand fields such as cardiology, neurology, and nephrology were not appointed there. After our government took office, we have created 284 super-specialty medical posts. Among the nurses who had been protesting, we have regularized 2,500 of them in the first phase, and we have also created new nurse posts.
Moreover, more than 3,000 additional positions have been created for pharmacists and lab technicians. Additional funds have also been allocated for the Rasipuram hospital works, and it will soon be opened for public use. TVK will achieve a resounding victory in the two upcoming by-elections. This by-election victory will clearly show the trust the people have placed in us over the past four months of governance, as well as their satisfaction with our performance," he said.