The Hindu : Other States / Pondicherry News : Civic polls soon, says Rangasamy

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Wednesday, Mar 30, 2005

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Civic polls soon, says Rangasamy

By Our Staff Reporter

PONDICHERRY, MARCH 29. The arrangements for holding civic polls in Pondicherry have almost been completed and polls would be held soon, the Chief Minister, N. Rangasamy, told the Assembly during question hour today.

He told A. Anbalagan and A. Kasilingam (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) and A.M. Krishnamoorthy (Bharatiya Janata Party) that State Election Commission would decide the date of polls.

Mr. Rangasamy earlier refuted the charges of Mr. Anbalagan that distribution of relief and launching of rehabilitation works in tsunami hit villages had been carried out in a partisan manner by the Administration. He told the member that the Administration had assessed the damage in tsunami in the Union Territory at Rs 251 crores and this included loss of fishing vessels worth Rs 46.48 lakhs. He said that Central assistance in the form of loans, subsidies and assistance for housing facilities would be around Rs 155.62 crores.

However so far no funds had been received from the Centre.

Anbalagan charged that the assessment of damage and distribution of relief were done whimsically by a section of officials in the tsunami-hit areas. He said that assistance for purchase of boats had been doled out lavishly in one village in Lawspet constituency at the rate of Rs 50,000 per outboard-motorised catamaran. But fishermen in Uppalam constituency had been discriminated against and coverage in this constituency was also woefully low.

Rejecting the allegations, the Chief Minister said the scale of assistance and timely help rendered to the suffering people had won commendation all round.

Intervening, the the Speaker M.D.R. Ramachandran asked the member to raise the issue if he so desired during the debate on demand for grant of funds to the respective departments later.

The Health Minister, E. Valsaraj said that there was no proposal with the government to pay an allowance to educated youth when they were jobless. He told Theni C. Jayakumar (TMC), A.M Krishnamoorthy and A Anbalagan that when the proposal was mooted before the Planning Commission in the past, the Commission did not accept it. He said he was not aware of such payment in any State.

Intervening, the Chief Minister said that since the present government assumed office, 8,000 youths had been given jobs. He said that his government was keen on tackling unemployment.

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