Chennai, Aug 24 (IANS): The Tamil Nadu government has announced an urban employment scheme to be implemented at a cost of Rs 100 crore, which is aimed at improving the livelihoods of the urban poor.

The scheme will be on the lines of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNRES).

This was announced by the Minister for Municipal Administration, Urban and Water Supply, K.N. Nehru, in the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Tuesday.

The minister, while replying to a debate in the House, said, "The scheme will be implemented this year in two zones in Greater Chennai Corporation, one zone each in the other municipal corporations, one municipality each under the seven regional directorates of municipal administration and one town panchayat each in 37 districts."

Nehru also said that the urban population in Tamil Nadu is growing at a fast pace and would reach 60 per cent of the total population by 2036.

The minister said that four crore people of the state are living in the urban areas, making up around 53 per cent of the population.

He also said that the state government would implement the Kalaignar Urban Development Scheme at a cost of Rs 1,000 crore, adding that infrastructure will be created in the municipalities and panchayats.

The minister said that libraries, community halls and markets would be constructed under this scheme.

Nehru also told the Assembly that 2,200 battery-run vehicles would be purchased in the next two years to replace the pushcarts. He said the move is aimed at reducing the burden of sanitary workers who have been using pushcarts for the past several years to collect solid waste.

He said that 1,494 battery-operated vehicles would be purchased in the current financial year.

The minister also said that the government would establish one electric crematorium in all the urban bodies, adding that 75 crematoria would be converted into electric mode at a cost of Rs 112 crore.