CPI Leader Criticises Puducherry Govt

Puducherry, Aug 27:  Communist Party of India (CPI) Puducherry state council secretary R Viswanathan has expressed the view that the people in the union territory “are not pleased with the Rangasamy-led AINRC government here”.

Addressing reporters at the party office here last week, Viswanathan, also former agriculture minister of Puducherry, said that the business community, students, members of the public and the unemployed youth are reeling under several hardships following “lack of initiative on the part of the Puducherry government to end their woes”.

He said that the executive committee of the state CPI in its meeting held here took stock of the prevailing situation and decided to initiate firm steps at the party level to force the government to solve people’s burning problems.

He said that the business community had already observed a 24-hour  bandh recently to urge the government to scrap the hike in value-added tax (VAT).  Still, nothing had been done in this regard.

The CPI leader said that although the government was making tall claims that Puducherry was a ‘clean city’ one could come across heaps of garbage at various centres. Inflation is reigning supreme in Puducherry causing untold hardship to the poor and the have-nots.

The Public Distribution System (PDS) is in sixes and sevens and all promises of availability of essential commodities are elusive. Students are left in the lurch without being assisted financially as promised by the government. Free laptops were yet to be made available.

The central government had not initiated steps to relieve Puducherry government of its financial crunch. Nor did the Puducherry government approach the Centre with specific plans, the CPI leader said. The issues concerning the labourers were also causing concern. More than 1,200 industrial units remained closed in Puducherry. Unemployment is also affecting the educated youth, he said and around 1.85 lakh youth who had registered their names with the employment exchange were waiting endlessly for jobs and are turning frustrated.

The observations made by the report of Comptroller and Auditor General of India relating to Puducherry government should be taken as an ‘alarm bell`.  The findings of the CAG report on various counts including the bungling by the UT government had are a matter of concern.

On the law and order situation here, the CPI leader said that there was a very close nexus between the police, politicians and anti-social elements in Puducherry. The frequent occurrences of bomb blasts have come to cause concern to the people.

Although the Goondas Act has been enforced nothing had been done to prevent threat to security of the people.

Former CPI legislator N Kalainathan, who was also present, said that the government had failed to collect the taxes due to the government from various sections. Around Rs 425.93 crore was due under various heads including commercial taxes, state excise and other heads. “The PDS should be toned up.”

Kalainathan said that the centrally-sponsored JIPMER hospital here should abandon the present collection of user fees from patients. The levy of the fees was causing hardship to the poor and have-nots turning up for treatment at this prestigious hospital. He wanted to know what steps the Rangasamy-led government had taken to urge the Centre to direct JIPMER to discontinue collection of the user fees.

He said that groupism among police officers was adding to the failure of law and order machinery to function here. “Police should act with courage and curb activities of anti-social elements without paying heed to any political parties’ intervention’, he said.  He said that umpteen numbers of resolutions were adopted on the floor of Puducherry assembly in the past seeking statehood for Puducherry. `What is the follow up of the resolutions and what steps the government here had done to draw the attention of the Centre to plea for statehood,’ he asked.

By : S Vijayabharathi