chennai a dmkled government assumed office after 10 long years and muthuvel karunanidhi stalin had opportunities and challenges in equal measure waiting for him from day one the first challenge for the 69yearold firsttime chief minister who took charge clutching a long list of poll promises was an empty treasury not to mention the raging pandemic which was followed by floodson the governance front the year that went past has been conducive to stalin from offering free bus rides for women to visiting dubai for attracting foreign investments stalin has got it right the fledgling dmk government did win appreciation in the management of covid and the floodshe built a team of top bureaucrats to steer his government stalin constituted more than 30 committees in the past year not just the justice a k rajan committee on the impact of neet or the economic advisory committee to the cm there are committees for welfare of sri lankan tamils hrce temples one to formulate new state education policy revive msmes mitigate floods in chennai and for early release of life convictspublic outreach has been the hallmark of stalins governance and he repeatedly reminds people that i am one among you and makes it resonate on a collective level he makes surprise visits to pds outlets fire stations governmentrun schools and police stations and checks the registersauthorities cite poor finances for the delay in rolling out schemes the administration does a tightrope walk and hence some projects are not funded or cleared by the finance department though they are announced by the ministers in the state assembly nevertheless schemes like illam thedi kalvi makkalai thedi maruthuvam homebased health services which helped more than 80 lakh beneficiaries in eight months or nammai kakkum 48 a new to help road accident victims are rolled outthe flagship programmes naan mudhalvan and mudhalvarin mugavari a separate department for grievance redressalreaching out to targeted beneficiaries have also been set in motion the dmk men point out that cutting down milk and petrol prices implementing poll promises of crop and jewel loan waiver and that of selfhelp groups have hit the bulls eye we have done in the last one year what could have taken 10 years or more said a beaming stalin at a function in chennai on mondaybut his political rivals are far from kind people were waiting for the dmk rule to go just like the way indians wanted the british to leave the country tn bjp chief k annamalai said during one of his visits to coimbatorepolitically stalin is in no position to let his guard down to start with the aiadmk had emerged as a strong opposition with 60odd mlas though the aiadmk failed to make the right noises the bjp more than made up for it with its aggressive campaign against the dmkfrom allegations of forced religious conversions threats to hindu temples poor law and order situation and irregularities in electricity department the bjp continues to raise the pitch against the