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PMK seeks viability report

PUDUCHERRY: Leader of the Pattali Makkal Katchi in Parliament M. Ramadass on Saturday asked the Union Territory (UT) government to prepare a viability report in support of the demand for full Statehood, taking the prevailing conditions into account.

He told reporters here that the government should not stop with the resolution adopted in the Assembly on the demand. It should submit a detailed report to the Centre to show that Puducherry would be able to stand on its own legs if Statehood was granted.

Supporting the demand for Statehood, he said the report should be prepared in 20 days by an experts panel headed by an IAS officer. The Chief Minister, his Cabinet colleagues and the legislators should steer clear of an emotional approach to the issue and they should focus on political action by taking it up with the Prime Minister, Home Minister and the chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance, he said.

The Assembly had adopted eight resolutions on the issue so far, he said, adding that the UT should strive for achieving special category status and it could settle for Statehood if granted.

Referring to the fall in pass percentage in the Plus Two examination by four, Mr.Ramadass asked the government to approach the issue with utmost seriousness. He called for steps to constitute an experts group and conduct a brainstorming session to take corrective steps so that the pass percentage went up in the next academic year. He urged the government to redress the grievances of the teachers, besides providing incentives so that they would work with involvement. The teachers should also realise their responsibilities, he said.

Though the government had abolished the Common Entrance Test, it would not benefit the students belonging to the Scheduled Castes, Backward Classes and the Most Backward Classes if there was a fall in the pass percentage of students in the government schools and students belonging to the rural areas, he opined.

Flaying the government for not taking steps to delegate powers to the local bodies, he said the Union Home Ministry had already sought a status report on the devolution issue.

Mr.Ramadass also asked the government to give its opinion to the Centre in favour of removal of the creamy layer concept while implementing the 27 per cent reservation for the other backward classes in Central educational institutions of excellence. He charged the government with “shirking its social responsibility” by failing to take up the Private Members’ Resolution on the issue in the Assembly.

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