Fact Check: Did Vijay introduce no traffic halts policy for CM's convoy?

Fans of actor-turned-politician Vijay have taken to social media to brag about positive policy changes the new Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu has enacted in the state. But some of these policies are not new. In this article, we will fact-check two such claims. NO TRAFFIC HALTS Several social media accounts claimed that the CM has introduced a new policy, per which, traffic will not be stopped for the chief minister’s convoy. In a parallel arrangement, the CM’s convoy will move in a separate lane and traffic in other lanes will not be stopped for private and public vehicles. Read Full Story An X user wrote, “The days of waiting for a convoy are over. For the first time, our traffic kept moving while the CM's convoy passed by. A small change by @CMOTamilnadu with a massive impact on our daily lives. Thank you, Thalaivaa!” Is it a new policy? We ran a keyword search and came across reports in The Hindu and The Times of India published on October 10, 2021. According to both reports, then Chief Minister MK Stalin had instructed the police not to stop the traffic when his convoy was moving on the road. He had also asked to reduce the number of vehicles in his cavalcade to reduce inconvenience to the public. The Hindu reported that Stalin issued the directive after he was criticised for his convoy causing a traffic jam in the city. The Indian Express reported on October 20, 2021, that the Tamil Nadu government had informed the Madras High Court that traffic would not be halted for VIP movement, including the chief minister. We also searched for reports about Vijay’s administration issuing a similar new traffic policy, but found nothing credible or officially announced. NEW CM HELPLINE? Another X user claimed, “Good news for TN citizens! Now we can directly submit our complaints to our CM Vijay through the official helpline.” A Google search reports in The News Minute and The Times of India from February 2021, according to which, then Chief Minister K Palaniswami had launched a helpline service for expeditious redressal of people's grievances. The reports said that the public could register complaints by calling the toll-free number 1100, using the dedicated website, sending e-mails to cmhelpline@tn.gov.in, or downloading the mobile app called CMHelpline Citizen. According to a report published by Tamil news outlet Puthiyathalaimurai on November 14, 2021, MK Stalin, who succeded Palaniswami, also introduced a new unified grievance-redressal department called Mudhalvarin Mugavari (Chief Minister’s Address). This brought several existing complaint-handling systems under one umbrella by merging four departments: the Chief Minister’s Help Desk, the Chief Minister’s Special Unit, the Integrated Grievance Management System, and the Chief Minister's Department in your constituency. Thus, it is clear that the CM helpline is not a new introduction, as it existed in two tenures before he took the helm of the Tamil Nadu government. Ends