Use water judiciously, appeals Pondy CM to people

Talking to reporters here, Narayanasamy said that the territorial administration was seized of the need to implement schemes to conserve water and to implement rain water harvesting scheme, adding that an action plan was being finalised to conserve water and to implement the rain water scheme on a war footing.

The Chief Minister said that the government had also decided to desilt water bodies by granting licenses through open tender system to contractors bidding low rate for the work to deepen the lakes and tanks. Several villages in Puducherry were now facing drought situation for want of rain and farmers were also in distress because of monsoon failure. “To overcome the situation, the government would soon evolve an action plan and implement it on a war footing,” he said.

He said he had brought to the notice of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the recently held NITI Aayog meeting that Puducherry should be included in the Fifteenth Finance Commission so that the territorial government would get a 42 per cent Central grant which was available to states in the commission.

He also brought to the notice of the Prime Minister that the Centre should bring in a draft bill to grant statehood to Puducherry. “We also highlighted at the NITI Aayog meeting the difficulties the Union Territory administration faced in the fiscal matter for want of full assistance from the Centre.”

“We struggle to implement the Seventh Pay Commission and hence I have urged the Prime Minister and Union Finance Minister to come to the rescue of Puducherry by granting sufficient funds,” he said.