Puducherry: Pattali Makkal Katchi Parliamentary party leader M. Ramadoss has appealed to those seeking separate Union Territory status for Karaikal district to jettison the plea, as it would be injurious and unhelpful to the district.

(The Karaikal Struggle Group has been demanding a separate Union Territory status for Karaikal as it feels the district has been ignored for years together).

Addressing presspersons here on Thursday, Mr. Ramadoss said no government, including the present administration, had ignored Karaikal. A number of developmental programmes, including a proposal for a Rs.38-crore fishing harbour and schemes to develop Tirunallar as a temple town with an outlay of Rs.220 crore, were planned for the growth of the district.

He said he had requested the Centre to declare Karaikal a backward district so that a special financial allocation of Rs.600 crore would be released for industrial and agricultural development.

He said there was, at the same time, the need to set up a separate Planning Board or Committee to formulate schemes for the district as per the recent amendment to the District Planning Committee Act 1994.

He welcomed the amendments made to the Puducherry Municipalities Act and the Village and Commune Panchayats Act 1973, earmarking subjects for the civic bodies. The PMK leader said the administration could start industries to provide jobs. Union Minister of State for Railways Velu, Chief Minister N. Rangasamy, Health Minister E. Valsaraj and Deputy Speaker A.V. Sreedharan would participate in a function on January 3 in Mahe to mark the introduction of direct train service between Puducherry and Mahe.

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