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Special Statehood for Puducherry sought

Photo: T. Singaravelou

GIVING DETAILS: PMK founder S. Ramadoss at a press conference in Puducherry on Sunday. —

PUDUCHERRY: Founder of the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) S.Ramadoss on Sunday urged the Central government to confer ‘Special Category Statehood’ (SCS) on Puducherry to empower the Chief Minister, his Cabinet colleagues and the Assembly to implement legislation.

Shortly after releasing the “shadow budget” for the Union Territory for 2008-2009 at a press conference, he said it was an anomaly in democracy that the Assembly elected by the people had been powerless and the people’s representatives were unable to evolve any policy or programme to ensure social justice.

There had been tremendous scope for Puducherry to emerge as a full-fledged State as it had achieved development in all sectors, the document said, adding that it would not face any major financial crisis if the SCS was accorded.

The PMK’s shadow budget expressed the hope that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance Sonia Gandhi would sympathetically consider the demand so as to fulfil the democratic rights and aspirations of the people of the Union Territory. Even as it had been stated that the Union Territory had high per capita income, poverty was on the rise, Dr.Ramadoss said. Stressing the need for ensuring growth in agriculture sector, he said the focus should be on ending unemployment, poverty alleviation and enhancing facilities in health and education sectors.

Leader of the Pattali Makkal Katchi’s Parliamentary party M. Ramadass, who received the first copy of the shadow budget, highlighted the significance of the document presented for the first time in the Union Territory.

The document perceived a budget estimate of Rs. 3,293.90 crore for 2008-2009 when compared to Rs.2,843.27 crore for 2007-2008. Of this, Rs.1,750 crore formed the plan expenditure and Rs.1,528.85 crore would be the non-plan expenditure, he said, adding that the Rs.15.05 crore would go for Centrally-sponsored schemes. Necessary revenue could be generated through administrative measures such as collection of tax arrears through ‘Samadhan’ schemes and there would be no need for levying new taxes, he said.

The PMK’s shadow budget also stressed the need for equitable growth by allocating funds to all the four regions depending on the population. As per its suggestion, 73.81 per cent of the annual plan allocation should go to Puducherry region, 18.64 per cent for Karaikal, 5.60 per cent for Yanam and 1.95 per cent for Mahe.

Creating a separate department to ensure strict implementation of the Special Component Plan for the Dalits without diverting the funds, setting up of a fisheries research institute in Puducherry, earmarking allocation of 10 per cent of the total tax revenue for local bodies, implementation of a new farm policy for the UT, setting up of two special agricultural economic zones and action against private technical colleges which violated the guidelines stipulated by the government were among the highlights of the PMK’s shadow budget, Mr.Ramadass said.

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