Puducherry Congress on Tuesday flayed Chief Minister N Rangasamy for not attending the Chief Ministers’ conference on the fifth report on “Public Order” of the second Administrative Reform Commission convened by Union Minister for Home affairs on Monday.
In a statement issued, Puducherry Congress spokesperson A V Veeragavan said that as Rangasamy himself did not attend the meet, he could have deputed one of the four ministers to represent Puducherry and put forward its views. He said that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa had deputed Local Administration Minister Munnusamy to participate in the meeting, who sought additional funds for police force while presenting the views of the government on the recommendations of the commission.
With the crime rate in the UT experiencing a spurt, Puducherry could have sought funds for equipment and gadgets and other things necessary for police to carry out their work in an efficient manner, said Veeragavan.
The statement read that the UT was experiencing a fund crunch, which had led to a tiff between the police and government owned corporation PAPSCO at Karaikal. The police department vehicles buy diesel from PAPSCO petrol filling station. As they had not paid PAPSCO a bill of `22 lakh, the latter refused to supply the fuel leading to a tiff.
Puducherry being a Union Territory, such ‘boycott’ would affect the Centre and State relations, which would in turn affect the lives of people here. Chief Minister should realise this and work towards the interest of people, said Veeragavan.
He said that the last Congress government under Chief Minister V Vaithilingam availed of funds from the Centre by constantly demanding it. Not only the Chief Minister, but other Ministers frequented New Delhi, to discuss schemes and projects with the Ministry concerned and obtain sanctions and funds.
Veeragavan said that such a practice was not being followed by the Ministers of the present government, and wondered whether the Chief Minister lacked faith in their abilities.