Wednesday, Mar 30, 2005
Wednesday, Mar 30, 2005 |
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By Our Special Correspondent
CHENNAI, MARCH 29. Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today accused Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram of hindering the flow of assistance from the Centre to Tamil Nadu for relief to tsunami-hit fishermen. In a statement here, she denied Mr. Chidambaram's charge that the State Government had not furnished the list of affected people and damaged property. "How is it that Mr. P. Chidambaram is blissfully unaware of the great number of teams of officials who have examined various proposals of the Government of Tamil Nadu for providing assistance under various development heads for persons affected by the tsunami?" In all cases, a detailed break-up of the number of persons affected, backed by full lists, drawn up by District Collectors, was reported. "Only if the beneficiaries request a bank loan can the application be forwarded to the bank concerned. This, the State Government has indicated, would be done on the choice of the beneficiaries." Pointing out that there was no response from the fishermen to the offer of bank loans for a variety of reasons, she said: "This is not the time to coerce them into obtaining a loan, which they are not happy with." The Union Minister was now trying to "keep the pot boiling with some more unwarranted statements on relief to the persons affected by the tsunami." The Government had already set out a comprehensive programme for rehabilitation of all sections. The policy on housing was widely welcomed. On the desalination project for Chennai, Ms. Jayalalithaa said a consultant was undertaking technical evaluation of the bids; it would take a minimum of 60 days to complete the evaluation. Referring to the delay in the Sethusamudram Project, she said media reports indicated that the Ministries of Shipping and Environment had not responded to the reported note of the Prime Minister's Office on environmental concerns.
`Strong-arm measures'
Instead of addressing the concerns cohesively and cogently, all kinds of measures, including ``strong-arming'' the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) by issue of a contempt of court notice and a show-cause notice, were being resorted to. "This is reprehensible. Never have we seen a Government, which should take steps to protect the environment, show such unseemly haste in rushing the project through without even addressing the genuine concerns expressed by fishermen and environmentalists," she said. The TNPCB had constituted an expert committee to address all environmental issues relating to the projectbefore it made recommendations to the State Government on furnishing the No-Objection Certificate. The committee was engaged in the task.
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