The Hindu : Front Page : Do not bypass States, Jayalalithaa tells Centre

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Monday, Jan 31, 2005

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Front Page

Do not bypass States, Jayalalithaa tells Centre

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, JAN. 30. The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, today raised objections to the Centre's move to take up livelihood rehabilitation measures for fishermen through public sector banks, "setting aside and completely ignoring the State Governments."

Seeking the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh's intervention, Ms. Jayalalithaa said the States must be empowered to rightfully undertake rehabilitation works.

She said she was "greatly disturbed" by the "unilateral Press statement" of the Union Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, on Saturday on the setting up of the `Rajiv Gandhi Rehabilitation Package for Tsunami-affected Areas'. This statement, she said, also indicated that the livelihood rehabilitation measures announced on January 19 after a meeting of the Union Cabinet would be implemented only by the public sector banks. "This is a most unfortunate and shocking development completely bypassing the States."

The statement naming the rehabilitation effort after Rajiv Gandhi was "jarring and unnecessarily divides people on political lines," she said. "It is indeed a deplorable attempt to make political capital out of an unprecedented natural disaster." The divisive situation had to be rectified, as otherwise the whole programme would be jeopardised, she said.

Ms. Jayalalithaa pointed out that press reports of the January 19 Union Cabinet meeting had clearly indicated that an assistance package for different States affected by the tsunami had been finalised and that the subsidy component for the rehabilitation would be part of the assistance package to the States. No formal orders were, however, forthcoming from the Centre. As any further delay would have meant a setback to the momentum already achieved in the relief and rehabilitation measures, she announced a package of assistance to fishermen for their livelihood rehabilitation.

The Governments of Andhra Pradesh and Pondicherry had likewise issued orders, she said. Mr. Chidambaram's statement seemed to ignore that the State Governments existed in a federal polity. "What is worse, the Union Finance Minister in his statement issues directions to the Chief Secretary, Relief Commissioner and the District Collectors in the affected States, whereas he has completely dismissed the State Governments as non-existent," she said.

"I am dismayed by the facile manner in which the delicate fabric of Centre-State relations has been torn asunder by the Press Statement of the Union Finance Minister," she said.

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