PUDUCHERRY: Ruling party MLA P M L Kalyanasundaram on Wednesday urged the government to order a CBI probe into the alleged extortion, believed to have led to the closure of industries in the Union Territory.
Speaking in the Assembly, he alleged extortion by political forces under the guise of environment association, ground water protection association, tank users association and caste organisations. These associations were run by political forces using some dummy persons employed by them, he said. There is no safety for the industries as they are being threatened by them owing to which, in the recent past several industries have closed down in the UT.
Om Sakthi Segar (AIADMK), speaking on the budget discussions said that several industries had closed down after having availed loans from PIPDIC, a government PSU and have still not repaid the same. Besides these industries had arrears of sales tax, power dues and municipal tax dues pending payment. Stating that this was affecting the revenue of the government, Segar wanted the government to set up a committee and arrive at a way for recovering the dues.
Speaking on the same motion, DMK MLA AMH Nazeem urged the government to seek a moratorium on repayment of loans and the annual interest on it for at least a period of five years.
With the loans reaching around `6,000 crore and the annual interest over `600 crore, this will give some relief to the government to stabilise its finances and implement schemes for welfare and development.
However, he asserted that government should keep on trying to secure a waiver of loans. Further, he said that government should get Puducherry included in the Finance commission for getting its share of finances and should take up the matter with the central government. This will also lead to allocation of separate funds for local bodies , which is now eluding the Union territory.
He also urged the government to get Puducherry’s due share of Cauvery water for farmers of Karaikal and if necessary take to legal recourse.