Chennai, Feb 1 (PTI) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday announced schemes in the Union Budget for Tamil Nadu including high speed rail links for Chennai, ecologically sustainable mountain trail in Podhigai Malai in the Western Ghats and a rare earth corridor.
Bird watching trails along the Pulikat lake and development of the archaeological site of Adichanallur into a vibrant, experiential cultural destinations were among the other announcements she made.
As regards Adichanallur, excavated landscapes will be opened to the public through curated walkways. Immersive storytelling skills and technologies will be introduced to help conservation labs, interpretation centres, and guides.
The minister in her Budget speech said that in order to promote environmentally sustainable passenger systems, “we will develop seven High-Speed Rail corridors between cities as growth connectors and Hyderabad-Chennai, and Chennai-Bengaluru would be among them.” Further, she said: “A scheme for Rare Earth Permanent Magnets was launched in November 2025. We now propose to support the mineral-rich States of Odisha, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu to establish dedicated Rare Earth Corridors to promote mining, processing, research and manufacturing.” India has the potential and opportunity to offer world-class trekking and hiking experience. Ecologically sustainable mountain trail will be developed in Podhigai Malai in the Western Ghats. Also, bird watching trails will be developed along the Pulikat lake which covers both Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
“Cities are India’s engines of growth, innovation, and opportunities. We shall now focus on Tier II and Tier III cities, and even temple-towns, which need modern infrastructure and basic amenities. This Budget aims to further amplify the potential of cities to deliver the economic power of agglomerations by mapping city economic regions (CER), based on their specific growth drivers. An allocation of Rs 5000 crore per CER over 5 years is proposed for implementing their plans through a challenge mode with a reform-cum-results based financing mechanism.” Tamil Nadu, home to thousands of temples and pilgrimage centres like Rameswaram, has several temple-towns including Madurai, Kancheepuram and Kumbakonam. PTI VGN VGN SA
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