- 14 hours ago
Tamil Nadu Finance Minister N. Marie Wilson said the government cancelled nearly Rs 23,000 crore worth of Chennai Corporation tenders over alleged overestimation and lobbying, while highlighting anti-corruption reforms, transparent governance and Rs 1 lakh crore in investments within 100 days.
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00:00okay we're going to start out the next session i know there's a bit of a frenzy so girls i'd
00:04request all of you to please take your seats we're closing the doors please be seated and settled out
00:11let's get back to serious business our next session is all things finance i'd like to call
00:16on stage the session moderator promote madhav to introduce our speaker the honorable minister
00:23for finance pensions planning and development of tamirnado dr n marie wilson please give a
00:29big round of applause to welcome the honorable minister
00:41okay before we start i have to tell you that was an entertainment session now you're going to have an
00:46economic and important knowledge session about the state of tamirnadu uh we have the finance minister
00:51from the state of tamirnadu from tvk government maria wilson thank you so much for speaking to us
00:55sir can you give us a small introduction about yourself for the national audience good evening
01:00to all of you thank you for your invitation first i am dr n marie wilson i represent rk naga
01:10ml
01:11constituency from north shennai from tvk currently have been nominated the portfolio by the honorable
01:18chief minister of tamil art c joseph vijay as the finance minister of tamil art my background is very
01:2620 to 25 years i've been into the education field but not just as the educationist but also a basketball
01:36player i belong to the basketball fraternity i have played i started still playing basketball in my clubs
01:44so that's my background now god has entrusted me through the honorable chief minister to take this
01:52portfolio of finance of tamil art so sir if you if you don't like let me just ask you this
02:00because
02:01this is a portfolio that has been held by tangam tenors that by ptr and now we are holding this
02:06particular portfolio what what do you see for like when it comes to tamil art of finance what is it
02:12that you see
02:13it's a such a honor first of all because first time mla and given me this most important post as
02:22you
02:22said was handled by the gen chief ministers of tamil art followed by ptr and tangam tenors it's such a
02:33such a responsibility position i'm in because i'm learning as the chief minister said it's the first time
02:40we have been elected to this government all the ml is including me and most of them are very new
02:46to
02:46this but we are learning a lot of things what has gone through in the government because 50 to 60
02:52years
02:53what they've ruled tamil art and it takes a lot of time a lot of patience as you know the
02:59honorable
03:00chief minister is very patient in hearing he's a very good listener so i'm taking much of time in
03:06listening to the finance secretary to all my hod's regarding the entire finance of the state which
03:12is a huge huge task but i'm sure that with the help of my entire team and the inputs which
03:19i'm receiving
03:21and also from all the stakeholders will definitely we will do good in the coming days
03:25has a goal of 1.5 trillion dollars to achieve that what is the present status what are the kind
03:34of like
03:35situations that you find that needs to be sorted out how are we going to reach this you see it's
03:40an ambitious number 1.5 trillion what uh the honoree chief minister said but if you look into the
03:48hundred days of celebration as we are sitting today and one lakh crore investment has been
03:55generated from all the investors that means every single day a thousand rupee thousand crores so we have
04:04reached one lakh crore it's all because of the trust the confidence the people have the investors have
04:10on this government especially with our honorable chief minister is because we have he has said very
04:18clearly no corruption honest and transparent so with that of statement given by the the topmost chair of
04:27the government that's the honorable chief minister everybody believed so on account of which now we could see
04:33that one lakh crore has been given brought in as an invest investment it's a positive sign actually
04:40very positive because in the past in the past what i could say from my experience being in the education
04:50field for almost 30 25 years i was a part of a consortium also in my self-financing engineering college
04:58in
04:58schools whenever we approach for any requirement for example for a no objection certificate for schools or
05:08colleges i'm a i was a victim so i have to pay something then only the generation of noc will
05:16come
05:17for the license and everything yeah of course nobody can deny that the former ministers also cannot deny
05:22that yes i i have to be honest here because the chief minister says we have to be honest in
05:27everything
05:28so only when we go through that pain we we can command certain things we can instruct certain things
05:34so now when i could see my other colleges schools the chairman secretary are coming forward with happiness
05:42because just at the application time itself they're getting their things done without any payment so the
05:50similar way the other construction companies or any people who want to do business in tamilad when they
05:57see this opportunity they are rushing towards yes they are really happy if for example one one construction
06:05company who wants to construct just one project two project then now they are coming we have 10 projects
06:12because the single window applications no middlemen no corruption so that's how the change is happening
06:19don't you find hurdles with the old system people who want who are not i mean something against it or
06:24something how are you handling all those issues come again when you're trying to bring this kind of
06:29change don't you find any hurdles from already pre-existing authorities or something hundred percent what
06:34you're saying exactly correct these people are coming with a lot of uh what do you call uh hurdles by
06:42saying that sir this is not possible even to be honest in the administration who wrote crats also
06:47but when they see the leader instructing it should be done without any corruption they they fall in line now
06:55they fall in line and almost all people who i met them personally they're very very happy even i got
07:01uh
07:02people from u.s i made some delegates from singapore they are very very happy that they're saying that
07:07that that one statement of corruption free and as you know the dvk has been formed was formed by giving
07:16only one month one motto by birth we are equal that has reached the lot of people in tamilad so
07:24we have
07:25gone to power with my single majority similarly when the hundred chief minister have said
07:30corruption free government that one motto has reached many of people how bad was the corruption
07:36because you constantly keep saying about this corruption issue and also you released a white
07:41paper immediately after taking charge as a finance master how bad is the corruption in the state of
07:46tamiladu very very bad very bad in fact the last two weeks before the corporation of chennai have
07:53cancelled almost 23 000 crore uh the bidders who have done their tendering process well before the
08:00election 23 000 crores they've cancelled because of overestimate and lobbying so such was the bad
08:08position anybody can come and can influence can get the orders done and what i learned in the the last
08:16hundred days as the finance minister when the file used to come there were a lot of ras reverse
08:24administrative sanction that's one very important thing everybody should know earlier for example one
08:31project they would have commenced with 100 crores again they will uh submit a re reverse administrative
08:38sanction saying that another 50 crores is added 150 crores extending it yes now we are stopping all
08:44these things now we are holding all these things and we are instructing the current ministry and uh
08:48under the guidance of the honorable chief minister that our ministry also should follow one dpr followed
08:53by one tender process and we have to finalize the deal we cannot should not come for ris unless and
08:57until
08:58it is a necessity but previously it was not followed in excess number of corruptions in fact we have done
09:04a
09:04local audit also and we have come out with uh three important departments and it is with the office now
09:12we're
09:12going to declare very soon also three important uh departments of the state so as marie wilson the uh
09:20first time mla and our first time minister we see a kind of like heated debate that is happening inside
09:26the assembly how are you handling it see as i said we are first time uh we we are excited
09:34actually excited to
09:35sit in the very prestigious uh in front of the uh two uh two two ex chief ministers and one
09:48uh ex deputy
09:49minister chief minister of the state and the former ministers and uh we are excited to raise questions
09:57then and there whenever we see as i said i'm a personal victim when i could see some uh wrong
10:05information provided by the senior council of the previous regime then everybody will start asking
10:11questions right then we will stand on but they are not having any proper answer they are saying no this
10:15is not uh it's not marab they will say it is not in the rules you should sit no you
10:21should not ask
10:21question only the concerned uh minister should answer that way they will change they will divert things
10:27that's that's happening but we are super excited in the remaining days of the session you you should
10:32definitely you will welcome all the ministers in the future also they will learn a lot of things they
10:38will come very very strong in 2027 when full budget is prepared one thing is very certain you have
10:45completely made the assembly session live so it is much more interesting than any other program be it
10:51you know whatever we see in the television so that's how it's happening but the one thing we constantly
10:55see is that you are fighting against seasoned politicians on the opposite bench how exactly are you trying to
11:02deal with that see we we we are talking about honest honest approach but they don't one such thing example
11:11is the interim budget what they have submitted in the march uh 2026 then followed by white paper then
11:18followed by our revised revised budget so what one different is that in the sotr state-owned tax revenue
11:27in the interim budget which they have submitted in 2026 march they have given a 19 percent jump
11:33which is not at all possible why because in sotr in the last 24 25 and 25 26 actual
11:41it was a growth only of eight percent so when we projected on a white paper we said it's around
11:47going to be 11 percent or 12 percent the similar way when we said in this when we submitted the
11:53revised budget they didn't accept they were saying no no it's not possible they said no no 19 is not
11:58possible only 12 percent so you see the honest submission of anything will take time but they have to
12:07accept but they will accept very soon because the people outside are accepting what is happening
12:14everything is live yeah so let me let me ask you this particular one what dmk is actually stating is
12:20that like whatever white paper you gave and whatever this is a narrative from the dmk and that whatever has
12:27been claimed as the achievement of the government are not matching and they still state that whatever has
12:32been the achievement of the previous government is being once again uh portrayed or displayed again
12:38is that so no no no see see i'm i'm still saying this they don't accept they're not in reality
12:45they're still believing that they are they are they're still continuing the government that is what
12:50they have got take up in their mind they believe they are still in the 100 so that's why they
12:55they are
12:56trying to form the government are they with the opposition also again yeah still but still we could
13:02see in the assembly they're joining hands for uh when we raise thing they're joining hands together
13:06they're signaling so these things we are we are seeing live okay they come in support handy with the
13:13ex-chief ministers uh so that's it's funny to see but uh they are not coming to real terms so
13:20it will take
13:20some time very soon very later we need to discuss this are you saying that the dmk is actually going
13:27in hands with ai dmk to oppose you inside the assembly yeah of course i'm saying i'm saying that what
13:33about
13:33the signals what are they doing exactly see if you raise one question for example uh one regarding one
13:42like for example sotr let's talk about this out here when the chief minister was sorry when the minister
13:49speaks when i speak and i say to them the former minister this is explaining he's a very good
13:58scholar that we have to accept it that's the honest thing i have to say it's very common composure except
14:04but the followed by the chief minister the former chief in the other party people also will similarly i
14:11put the same question why i don't know why i don't know why but they put the same question when
14:17i gave the
14:18answer so he will keep quiet but the second question will not be raised again we we are not we
14:24are quite
14:24confused what's happening there are a lot of things such examples will uh you might be watching please tell
14:29us more actually see see we could say i could say only one thing they fall on the same line
14:42everybody
14:43because the chief minister the former chief minister mr mk stallion have said this government will not
14:48last it will take you almost two months three months six months the government will fall
14:57i don't know why he said that he's a huge disrespect to the people of tamilat after being given a
15:04single
15:05majority i mean a single uh largest party of the state with the voter turn around 85 percent of the
15:13entire tamil not first in history and still he's confident having done a lot of things at the back
15:20door and he's saying then we could make it very well smell it when we the statements followed by the
15:28the the arrangements what they are doing in the assembly it's a very evidence of what they're going to do
15:34in the future also what exactly is it what evidence are we getting inside the aspect because this we
15:39tend to miss out that is why no take for example the resolutions which we have passed in the assembly
15:45there was a lot of uh debate you might have seen the cavalry neat and delimitation and so on so
15:53there
15:54is a mixed kind of response not unanimously not many of the bills have been passed but again they shake
16:00hands
16:00they shake hands i don't know why but people they they are they're thinking that we are one not eight
16:08i am telling you through this platform very soon we are going to reach the maximum and the by
16:14elections are around the corner that time we will see the other face of this government are you saying
16:20that uh dmk and ddmk are still in the shaking hands together and possibly oppose you in the by elections
16:26together might be but i'm not sure i can't put assumption into play but that is my point of view
16:34i don't want to generalize things at the same time you're also stating that uh you know dmk still claims
16:39that you have only six months of governance and things like that does that mean they are still trying
16:43to bring down your government you they will try right because they they never expected this kind of
16:49mandate even when they go to sleep or they are moving into any functions they keep crying they keep
16:55shouting even one of the uh the form of the experienced leader of their uh party i think he's rs
17:03bardi saying he's cursing the people of saithapet they don't have a they will not have a good death
17:10what kind of statement is this so they they are they are not in a mood to accept the reality
17:15and still
17:16they want to do something and every time they go they blame the government for nothing we are just 100
17:21days old we have just from the government we are learning and we have made corruption see very
17:28simple sir see this is going to continue the next four years next 50 we are planning for 15 20
17:33years
17:3315 20 years our our cm is very clear just for 100 days when we are focusing when we are
17:41insisting all
17:42the people there will be no corruption how can they digest because 60 years they will rule they have gone
17:47lot of earned a lot of things through party fund all of a sudden the people of tamil nadu got
17:53practice to
17:54this corruption free and they get thing they certificate everything suppose i'm not sure they will not they
18:00will not come but in case in their reality in their dream they are going to come if they go
18:06and approach
18:06any again please give me party fund what will happen there will be revolution this is already a revolution
18:13whistle revelation again there will be huge revelation but you have to explain to us about
18:17this particular party fund because this became a huge issue inside the assembly finishing with the
18:21cm's hand movement and everything what is party fund how is corruption involved in it see yeah that's why
18:26i said earlier i said uh being running being having running institutions one noc for example just i want
18:34to say a very very small thing minority certificate because we have from a minority institution then minister
18:43he used to ask five to eight lakhs for that uh particular certificate we have to pay for any
18:52will for any will this is an example our association members have felt that in particular i have made that
18:59i also have been a victim on that so we are we are will be affected on that so this
19:04was normalized
19:06everyone should pay this yes today in the assembly also when the honorable minister of our health
19:14alundra sir has said the the corruption has been normalized so all the people from the dmk are
19:21shouting how can you say in the previous regime there was the corruption has been normalized you have to
19:25take this word out but here i can say it was the thing in the past it was everything money
19:32you get
19:33certification i want to ask you one thing because you brought this uh minority uh label now the thing
19:40is that like marie wilson a couple of times has been uh by bjp has been brought out for certain
19:46of your
19:47beliefs do you want to respond to this bjp's allegations see by birth we are equal this is what our
19:55leader have said from the day one of this formation party similarly we have focused focused on secular
20:02social justice that is our uh hardcore we have in that mind in my personal life i have been brought
20:12in
20:12that way see it's not my mistake my birth christian it was way i have been brought up in one
20:23word next
20:24instead of what i could say that my grandfather that is my father's father is a muslim mohammad are you
20:33my brother-in-law and my family is a hindu we are secular
20:40if you want to talk about that you can talk but having followed for years this particular religion
20:47i have been brought up in that way studied in a christian school i i've been followed in that rosary
20:54way so i i quote things from that bible which i was not offend for i was not offending anybody
21:04this is saying but it was taken the wrong side but if you look at the other people what they
21:10are
21:11quoting right now being the leader of the state of the bjp says about a woman i never said that
21:17i was
21:18talking about love empathy but he's he's saying he's commenting on a woman that it's not good right
21:27so that's what i'm saying we are secular i'm secular person the party is secular we are here for tamil
21:33we are here for any religion as i said my brother-in-law my grandfather they had love in 1912
21:42they he married uh marcella from pondicherry you know pondicherry is a very good uh place it's a
21:48lovable state lovable union territory it's auroville french colony so we have come come my grandfather
21:55have done that way back so even my muslim family members are still there
22:00and my brother-in-law who's having uh following uh hindu religion he visits the rupadi every week
22:08every saturday so we are secular only their mindset have to change my mindset is very clear this is
22:13your response to bjp change your mindset change your mindset we we are we are secular another important
22:19thing is that like when you said talked about tamil tamil tai vartu was is a very important issue and
22:25now the chief minister has made it mandatory still there seems to be certain kind of issues that could
22:30be raised over this claiming that this is not going ahead in whatever tvk does is whatever dmk has
22:36done earlier be it tamil tai vartu or be it various other issues is that so see tamil tai vartu
22:42is must
22:43we have passed a resolution also in the state assembly when some people wants to bring on
22:50bring push want to push this tamil tai vartu second that should not be the case here everybody in
22:57irrespective party dmk or admk or tvk or a communist congress we stand by that word so tamil tai vartu
23:08should be sung first that is our stand that is what our state assembly has proposed everybody unanimously
23:13has accepted that people who have different opinions can practice somewhere in other states very clearly
23:19bjp wants to say that tvk is a new dmk is that so how do you tvk is the new
23:25dmk dmk because you are
23:28also opposing need you're also opposing delimitation and issues like that anything affecting the state
23:34we are there for them where does come this come from dmk we come we follow dmk we are not
23:41following
23:41anything for a family rule we are not family rule their family rule for the last 40 years
23:49his grandfather was a chief minister his son was a deputy chief minister then then his sister was the mp
23:59and other cousin was an mp where do we have where do we see tvk there and that nobody is
24:05forming here
24:06that way right so we are not anywhere compared to the dmk tvk is not dmk well uh this is
24:13a finance minister
24:14from the state of thamirnadu murray wilson very clearly he might speak soft but uh your words are
24:20definitely going to reverberate thank you so much for thank you thank you thank you thank you
24:25thank you very much minister for joining us here at the india today round table
24:30can i request pramod madhav to please hand over a token of appreciation
24:35to the minister for taking the time out and joining us i know sir you had a busy assembly
24:39day and after that you've come right over so thank you for that
24:44can we have a round of applause please for durable minister dr n marie wilson
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