Kanniyakumari MLA urges state to bring Vellalars in district under BC category

Speaking in the Assembly Austin said, “Vellalar community in other districts of the state belong to backward category but the same community in Kanniyakumari district belong to forward community. I don’t know how this happened, but the state government should take steps to bring the Vellalars in Kanniyakumari under backward community.”

Austin also said that Janarthanan Committee was appointed to investigate the issue and the committee had recommended the government to place Vellalars in the list of backward communities. “The state government should implement the recommendations of Janarthanan Committee,” added Austin.

Debating on the budget, Austin called it a lacklustre exercise. “Usually when there are new announcements in the budget the AIADMK MLAs and Ministers will hit their benches to show their appreciation, but the AIADMK legislators remained largely silent when the budget was presented,” said Austin.  

State Minister for Cooperation Sellur K Raju immediately interfered and said that as Austin was sleeping when the budget was presented he did not hear the appreciation for the budget.  

Austin further said that the debt in the budget had risen to close to Rs 4 lakh crore and if the rate of increase continues it will hit all time high soon. “In 2010-11, when DMK was in power the outstanding debt of the state was Rs 1 lakh crore but in the space of seven years the debt had increased to Rs 4 lakh crore. If the rate of increase continues the debt will soon touch Rs 5.5 lakh crore which will be above 25 per cent of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP),” said Austin.

Immediately, Panneerselvam responded by saying that Austin need not worry as AIADMK will be in power when the debt increases and they have ways to manage the it. “We will take all steps to keep the debt below 25 per cent of GSDP and the it was used to purchase immovable properties and the revenue from the properties is used to pay the interests for the debt,” he said.