PUDUCHERRY: Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy on Thursday lamented that the government will have to present the annual budget soon without any financial support from the Centre.
In an audio visual release, he said the Centre is yet to release the dues to Puducherry such as GST compensation and reimbursement of the 7th pay commission dues among others. The Prime Minister, Health Minister and Finance Minister were apprised about the matter and yet there has been no response from them, he charged. States are finding it hard to even disburse the salary of their employees and considering this, the Centre should come forward to help, he said.
He reiterated that the government will oppose the move to privatize the electricity department here. The chief minister said when the UT received the letter from the Centre in this regard, the government had replied stating that a decision could not be taken without consulting the Puducherry government since Puducherry is not an ordinary Union Territory but one with a legislative assembly and is treated as a state. But no reply has been received yet from the Centre. He said electricity is in the concurrent list and no amendment could be made in Parliament without the recommendation of the states.
He said the Puducherry government is supporting the cause of electricity department employees who are on strike against this move of the Centre. They should fight against the central government and not against the state government, he said.
The CM said that a special train with migrant workers will leave for West Bengal and Assam from Puducherry on Friday. Already migrant workers from Bihar, UP, MP, Odisha and Jharkhand were sent back home, he noted. With the departure of migrant workers, industries here are experiencing manpower shortage, he said adding that he had requested industrialists to provide jobs to the locals by training them.
After the shifting of the vegetable market from the bus stand, no social distancing was adopted and no security measures are being taken. If this continues, the market will again be shifted to the AFT grounds, he warned, reminding them of the Koyambedu market in Chennai from where COVID-19 spread.
Stating that a large number of patients are coming to the Government General Hospital for OPD treatment, making it difficult to maintain social distancing, the Chief Minister exhorted them not to come for simple ailments.