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Thursday, Dec 23, 2004

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Other States - Pondicherry

Where ruling partymen criticise their own Government

By Our Staff Reporter

PONDICHERRY, DEC. 22. The Pondicherry Chief Minister N. Rangasamy and his cabinet colleague the Education and Tourism Minister, K. Lakshminarayanan, have been claiming that Pondicherry is the most ideal tourist destination because of its peaceful environs.

But at the party level, the senior Congress leader, P. Kannan, keeps pointing out that there is no rule of law.

In the last one week, he has been saying that `goondas and anti-social elements' are holding the people to ransom. At a press conference the other day here, he said the Goondas Act should be introduced.

A few other Congress functionaries, who at one stage commented on the `poor law and order situation', changed their assessment later.

Assault on boy

Monday' s incident of the police beating up a 19-year-old resident of Mudaliarpet C. Sathiamoorthy took a serious turn. Within hours, authorities suspended two constables of the Mudaliarpet station against whom complaints of `high handedness' were made by the boy's relatives.

Mr. Kannan, a former Home Minister, visited the boy in the hospital. He told a press conference outside the hospital that he had been saying that his staunch followers were facing threats. This was being corroborated by the incident on Monday. Time had come to launch a Statewide campaign to protect the people against the machinations of a section of big barons in the government.

The police authorities have not come out with any official communication why the constables beat up the boy.

Meanwhile senior Congress leader, V. Vaithilingam, talking to presspersons here today has called for a good governance as a spate of incidents reported recently had come to cause concern.

He said that the poor law and order situation and lack of steps to ameliorate the lot of farmers and student community were also serious issues calling for effective solutions, he said stressing the need for `self introspection and rectification of the poor performance of the government.'

If the ministry headed by Rangasamy did not rectify the situation people would `make their own choice' in the next Assembly polls he said.

Cane farmers' woes

Vaithilingam said that sugarcane farmers attached to a private sugar mill at Ariyur near here were suffering a lot as the mill management had not paid them the price for the cane supplied for the last five years now. He said that although farmers had raised the crop with great difficulty now they were facing the highly objectionable pressure from the government to sell the cane only to the Pondicherry cooperative sugar mill at Lingareddipalayam in Mannadipet commune panchayat near here.

He said that teams of officers of the government with the police escorts were visiting the villages to force the farmers to sell the sugarcane to the cooperative mill.

However villagers were resisting the approach of the government and the officers were driven away by farmers in one of the villages.

He said the government should not tread the path of authoritarianism.

Already farmers were suffering because of the default on the part of the mill at Ariyur in making the payment for the cane supplied.

Mr.Vaithilingam said that Mudaliarpet block near here was presenting frequent breakdown in law and order.

A close monitoring was necessary.

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