VELLORE: DMK treasurer Stalin on his Namakku Namme tour was in Ambur on Tuesday,striking a note of humility and promised any errors that were made during the DMK regime will be rectified if the DMK is elected to power. Interacting with a group of leather tanners he said, “There is a necessity for politicians to frequently meet people to understand issues at the grass-roots level and I have learnt this important message from this state wide tour of mine.”
After listening to some of problems aired by the tannery industry representatives, he said that the ruling government which should have sorted out issues and problems it has failed to do so.
The DMK party, if voted to power will take all measures to safeguard the leather industry, he assured the tannery workers and owners. He said that the DMK party was busy preparing a poll manifesto for the forthcoming assembly elections which once completed will be announced by the party chief.
“We will ensure that any mistakes, faults that have taken place during the previous DMK rule will be corrected and rectified,” he said. If voted to power this time, “our government will be corruption free and commission-free governance,” he added.
The tanners led by N Mohamed Sayeed, president of the Ambur Tanners Association wanted the government to provide basic amenities in the industrial estates. They said that the tanneries in the district have achieved zero discharge of effluents status and 100 percent of the treated effluent was being reused for the tanning process. No other state has achieved this, they pointed out. While the central government was extending 50 percent for the establishment of common effluent treatment plants, (CETP) there was no matching grant from the state government. Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal are far ahead in providing state subsidy for the CETPs they added.
They said that the cost of maintenance of CETPs were also escalating due to the rise in electricity charges which was continuing to burden the leather industry. In order to help this industry, the state must extend a subsidy of 40 percent and reduced power tariff. The tanning industry must be spared from the pollution control norms, they added. Former minister Durai Murugan, DMK district secretaries R Gandhi, Nandakumar, Devaraji among other party functionaries were present on the occasion.
Earlier Stalin interacted with Muslim religious leaders in Vaniyamabadi in a marriage hall where pleas to make Urdu language as compulsory for minority students and increased quota for Muslims in education and employment were placed before him. He assured them that the quota would be increased to 5 percent when DMK comes back to power. Before entering Vaniyambadi town, he met a group of Vaniyambadi villagers who had come with their racing bulls. The villagers wanted the court stay against jallikattu and bull-races be removed. In Tirupattur he went around Bazar Street and met people on the way and received petitions from them. He later met a group of women SHGs and listened to their problems.