Tamil Nadu   

AIADMK assures special status for Pondicherry

Special Correspondent

Jayalalithaa releases party manifesto for Union Territory It promises a joint consultative machinery to redress the grievances of Government employees on the spot

CHENNAI: The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) on Tuesday assured that the party would secure the status of a "Special State" for Pondicherry in order to enable the Union Territory to take its own policy decisions, besides implementing schemes as in other States.

The manifesto released by party general secretary and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa here for the May 8 Assembly elections in Pondicherry said that a law would be enacted to enable the Union Territory to appoint higher officials, college teachers, doctors, provincial civil service officers and other posts for which recruitment was now done by the Union Public Service Commission.

The party also promised to take steps, as per the directions of the court to hold elections immediately to the local bodies, which had not been conducted for long.

Legislation similar to `Goondas Act'

In the best interest of public order in Pondicherry, legislation similar to the `Goondas Act' in Tamil Nadu would be brought into force, and vigorous steps would be taken to root out extremism from Pondicherry.

Recalling that a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation was ordered on the "land and house grabbing and swindling of the properties of foreigners by means of forged documents," the manifesto said the result of the enquiry was not made public. It assured to take action as per law and bring the culprits to book.

The manifesto spoke of setting up of a joint consultative machinery to redress the grievances of Government employees on the spot, cancelling licences of dance bars that allowed obscene dances, forming a coastal security force to curb infiltration of extremists into Karaikal, auctioning of the properties of various "unscrupulous" finance companies that had cheated the investors, modernising old and reputed textile mills and curbing the trend of mushrooming of private medical colleges.

The party said impetus would be given to make Pondicherry an important tourist centre. Steps would be taken to start all-woman police stations. The special additional fund allotted by the Centre for the welfare of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes would be utilised exclusively for them, it added. The manifesto also promised to take immediate steps for the development of the Karaikal region.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

In unmistakeable terms
AIADMK assures special status for Pondicherry
Domestic workers stage demonstration
13 consumer fora non-functional
"T.J. Cherian was symbol of hope for thousands of patients"
Briefly

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu