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Communist parties demand White Paper on financial status

PUDUCHERRY: The Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Monday urged the Congress government to present a White Paper on the financial status of the Union Territory against the backdrop of conflicting reports in this regard.

Addressing a press conference jointly, secretary of the Puducherry unit of the CPI (M) V.Perumal and his CPI counterpart N.Kalainathan said the two parties had decided to launch a campaign on the “ill-effects of the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal,” besides flaying the “acts of commissions and omissions of the United Progressive Alliance government and that of the territorial government.”

The first phase of the campaign would be launched at 4 p.m. in Bharathi Nagar, Lawspet, on Wednesday. It would go on till July 19 in the Puducherry region. The awareness campaign would be undertaken in the Karaikal region on July 20.

The territorial committees of the CPI and the CPI (M) would meet on July 21 to chalk out the second phase of the agitation, in the light of the decisions taken by the Tamil Nadu State units of both the parties, they said.

Even as the Chief Minister had asserted that his government did not face any financial crisis, his Cabinet colleagues had been complaining that several welfare and development schemes had not taken off, owing to non-allocation of adequate funds, the two leaders said.

The territorial administration had come to a standstill and the government was caught in a deep financial crisis, Mr.Kalainathan said, adding that several welfare schemes including disbursement of old age pension, pension for the widows, free rice scheme and free distribution of sarees and dhotis for people living below-the-poverty-line had not been properly implemented.

Confusion prevailed in the admissions to private medical colleges, with the government remaining a “mute spectator” to three deemed universities refusing to earmark seats for the candidates to be admitted by through the Centralised Admission Committee, he said.

During the campaign, the Communist parties would also highlight the “disastrous economic policies” of the UPA government that had resulted in unprecedented inflation and spiralling prices, State committee member of the CPI (M) T.Murugan said.

Mr. Kalainathan urged the Puducherry government to extend the scheme of supplying five essential commodities to Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam regions also. The number of essential articles to be supplied through the PDS should also be increased to 15 as it had been done in West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura, he said.

Issues such as the government’s failure to get Special Status or Statehood for Puducherry, streamline the functioning of the textile mills in the Union Territory, end power cut in the industrial estates, ensure social security for the workers and curb crimes and provide doles to the unemployed also would be focussed during the campaign, he said.

Mr. Perumal stressed the need for implementing the land reform measures for the benefit of the poor and downtrodden. He called for immediate steps to construct group houses in rural areas and tenements in the urban areas to provide relief to the roofless people.

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