Begin typing your search...
Pondy CM presents a vote-on-account
Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy on Saturday presented a vote-on-account in the Assembly for 2019-2020 earmarking Rs 2,703.63 crore to government departments, amid a protest by opposition parties.
By
migrator
migrator
Puducherry
The Assembly reconvened by Speaker V Vaithilingam adjourned sine die after passing the vote-on-account bill and transacting other scheduled business.
Chief Minister V Narayanasamy presented the vote-on-account even as all the 14 legislators belonging to the opposition- AINRC (seven), AIADMK (four) and three nominated members belonging to the BJP- protested the government’s decision not to present a full-fledged budget.
The Bill passed amid opposition protest earmarked Rs 2,703.63 crore to the government departments to meet their expenditure from the consolidated fund in the next five months for fiscal 2019-2020.
Former chief minister and Leader of the Opposition N Rangasamy criticised the Chief Minister and his colleagues for making “meaningless charges against the Lt Governor” without addressing the issues of the people.
He said there was also an “amusing scenario of the Chief Minister and his cabinet colleagues sitting on a dharna outside the Raj Nivas for days together recently to criticise the Lt Governor (Kiran Bedi).”
The AINRC leader also questioned the conduct of the session (the first in 2019) without the customary address by the Lt Governor.
AIADMK Legislature wing leader A Anbalagan asked the Chief Minister as to what “he had achieved” by staging the six-day dharna from February 13 outside the Lt Governor’s residence.
Earlier, the Speaker referred to the killing of 40 CRPF personnel in the Pulwama terror attack on February 14 following which the members observed two minutes silence in the memory of the martyrs.
The Speaker also made obituary references to former Defence Minister George Fernandez, former DMK Legislator Seetha Vedanayam and Tamil scholar Prabanjan.
Entire opposition stages walk out
The entire Opposition staged a walk out from the Assembly after holding a dharna in front of the Speaker’s podium on Saturday. The Opposition members were protesting against the failure of the government to present a full-fledged budget, demanding an explanation on the dharna conducted by the Chief Minister and his Cabinet colleagues in front of the Raj Nivas and on other issues. AIADMK leader A Anbazhagan led the protest.
Govt plan to help farmers
The government proposed to implement the ‘Uzhavar Udayam’ scheme from 2019-20 to provide subsidy directly to farmers including land owners and leases, Chief Minister V Narayanasamy told the Assembly on Saturday.
Making a suo-motu statement in the house, the Chief Minister said that new schemes would be implemented in 2019-20 to ensure self-sufficiency in milk production in the Union Territory.
Further the Ponlait (Pondicherry Milk producers Union) would be modernised at a cost of Rs 54 crore to produce more items including ice cream. It is proposed to implement a scheme at a cost of Rs 12 crore to provide milch animals to women and farmers to enhance their revenue, he added.
Narayanasamy said under the Rural Development Department, 2,533 self-help groups and 98 panchayat women confederations were constituted. These women groups save Rs 15 crore a year and obtain loan to the tune of Rs 30 crore from banks. With this, the livelihood of women is getting enhanced, he added.
To further help them four per cent interest to the loan of those who are prompt in repayment would be waived. All the 98 women panchayat confederations would be provided Rs 1 lakh each as revolving fund, the Chief Minister said, adding that such scheme would be extended to the women self-help groups in urban areas also. He further said that the Pondicherry Engineering College would be upgraded into a Technical University during 2019-20.
War of words over Abhinandan
Assembly witnessed heated exchanges between the treasury benches and the BJP MLAs over Wg Cdr Abhinandan Varthaman. At the fag end of the session, Chief Minister praised him for his courage. BJP member V Saminathan stated that the Chief Minister should keep in mind the strong stance showed by PM Narendra Modi and it led to an uproar leading the Chair to adjourn the House sine die.
Visit news.dtnext.in to explore our interactive epaper!
Download the DT Next app for more exciting features!
Click here for iOS
Click here for Android
Next Story
