PUDUCHERRY: People above 100 years of age in Puducherry will now get a monthly assistance of Rs 7,000 under the UT government's Old Age Pension (OAP) scheme, while the assistance for those between the age of 95 and 100 will be raised from Rs 3,500 to Rs 4,000, said Chief Minister N Rangasamy on Monday. The CM said this in reply to a question by leader of the Opposition R Siva in the Assembly.
There are seven persons in the Union Territory above the age of 100. Rangasamy added that as many as 15,000 applications received under different categories seeking monthly assistance under OAP would be processed, and these additional beneficiaries would get assistance within a month.
On the requests to provide land to ST families, the CM said the government would allot free house sites to poor ST families and assist them in house construction through schemes. Replying to questions from R Sentil kumar and supplementary questions by other MLAs, he said since people from such communities generally do not desire to move to faraway places, they would be allotted sites if the MLAs can identify government poramboke land close to their place of residence.
The CM also said the solatium to the legal heirs of fishermen who die while fishing would be enhanced to Rs 10 lakh, and the funds have been earmarked in the 2022-23 budget. Meanwhile, Home Minister A Namassivayam said the government has requested the Centre to accord permission to the UT government to create a service commission to recruit staff for posts coming under categories B (non gazette), C, and D.
MLA stages protest
Independent MLA G Nehru's allegation that certain petrol bunks in the UT that are meant to be allotted to people from Scheduled Castes were given to others at the behest of a political leader, led to heated arguments after the MLA named the leader. When Speaker R Selvam expunged Nehru's remarks, he objected to it claiming that he had evidence against the leader and continued to speak.
Speaker R Selvam switched off his mike and asked him to sit down. When he still continued, the Speaker warned him of eviction from the house. While Rangasamy intervened and said the member has the right to raise issues without making any references to any member of the Assembly, Nehru walked out in protest. Later, he said he would file a complaint with the home minister.