PUDUCHERRY: Addressing reporters on Sunday, former Union Minister Narayanasamy said Congress will come out with a new liquor policy, if elected in the 2016 assembly elections.
Narayanaswamy, who was with the leader of the opposition, V Vaithilingam and Puducherry PCC chief A Namassivayam, said liquor shops, which numbered 200 during the previous Congress regime headed by V Vaithilingam, has been doubled to 400 by the present NR Congress government. He added that the liquor shops have been set up near schools, temples, churches without following rules and regulations and the outlets thus set up pose problems for the public, especially for women and children.
The former Union Minister was, however, short on details of the liquor policy.
Narayanaswamy alleged that there were huge irregularities in the admission to medical courses in private medical colleges and demanded a CBI enquiry into it. He said private medical college management were seeking more fees than what has been fixed for students selected through CENTAC. Students who fail to remit the amounts are offered an engineering seat and the vacant medical seats are being sold for vast amounts, he alleged. The AICC general secy said ruling AINRC government was supporting the private medical college management without taking any action.
White Paper Sought
Former union minister V Narayanasamy on Sunday questioned the rationale behind Chief Minister Rangasamy’s hesitation in bringing out a white paper on the financial position of the Union Territory. He was speaking in the context of Rangasamy’s assertion at Bahour, a few days back, that he alone was was in a position to speak about the finances of the UT.
He urged the Chief Minister to explain why the government resorted to market borrowing of `100 crore on July 14 besides planning to borrow another `100 crore on July 28 if the financial position was sound. Stating that market borrowing has clearly demonstrated the existence of the financial crisis, Narayanasamy wondered if the NR Congress government was accumulating all the loans to hand them over to the next government after the 2016 assembly elections.
He added that the AFT mills, Co-operative sugar mills and the Jayaprakash Narayan Spinning mill had been closed.
Hold Civic Polls
Stating that many of the conditions like power supply, drainage facility, drinking water system etc already exists in the UT, Narayanasamy said the government should take steps to conduct the local body polls, at the earliest, to fulfil one of the key criteria fixed for the selection of Smart cities.
The AICC general secretary said the Centre would be providing only 50 per cent of the cost while the state government should finance the remaining 50 per cent in executing the Smart city project. He wondered how the government would be able to allot money when the UT was facing such a severe financial crunch.
Earlier, the AICC general secretary said he had met the Union Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu in connection with the Smart City project and added that the Union Ministry had complimented the UT administration for submitting necessary documents.
Protests Planned
Meanwhile, Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief A Namassivayam said that Congress would be organising agitations against the ruling NR Congress government for having failed on all fronts.
Addressing reporters here on Sunday, he said the Congress party had discussed the political situation and failure of the NR Congress government at its Executive Committee meeting on Saturday that was chaired by G Chinna Reddy, AICC general secretary in-charge of Puducherry. Reiterating that Congress was committed to solving the issues of the people, Namassivayam said the NR Congress government during its four-and-half-year rule, failed to fulfil the promises to people.
The PCC chief also exuded confidence that people will vote Congress back to power in assembly elections scheduled in 2016.