Raju said that the previous government launched the Amma Pharmacy scheme to sell medicines at 20 per cent discounted rates. Due to the scheme, prices of medicines in the market were kept in control. “But the implementation has become ineffective. Also, the ‘Pannai Pasumai Nugarvor Kadai’ (vegetable shops) scheme is also not implemented properly. In Thoothukudi alone, the shops earned a revenue of Rs 2 lakh per day,” he said.

He listed cooperative petrol bunks and mobile fair-price shops schemes and alleged that they are not run effectively. “Mobile shops were useful to the residents of villages on hills. In The Nilgiris, as many as 11 mobile shops served 20 villages,” he added.

Responding to the former minister, Periakaruppan asked to list out the projects that were stopped by his government and said that the present government will continue the good schemes. “We do not stop any schemes that benefit people,” he added. Meanwhile, Sellur Raju urged the government to allocate more funds to waive off gold loans in cooperative banks. The previous government had announced to write-off gold loans of around 48 lakh persons, but the present government laid several conditions and reduced the beneficiaries to 11 lakh and reduced the allocation, he added.

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