Puducherry Assembly passes Rs 4,634 crore vote on account
PUDUCHERRY: The Puducherry Assembly on Thursday passed a vote on account (VOA) of Rs 4,634.29 crore to meet the expenses for the five months of the financial year 2024-2025. The opposition parties staged a walkout protesting against the presentation of VOA instead of a full budget.
According to the vote on account presented by Chief Minister N Rangasamy, who is also holding the finance portfolio, the aggregate gross expenditure is estimated at Rs 12,250 crore for the fiscal 2024-2025. Against this requirement, on account for five months is Rs 5,187 crore of which Rs 4,634.29 crore have been passed in the assembly, while Rs 552.70 crore is charged on the consolidated fund of the government. The house also passed the supplementary demand for grants to the tune of `948.06 crore for the 2023 -2024 fiscal.
The Puducherry Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (Exemption from approvals to commence business) Bill 2024 tabled by the Home and Industries Minister A Namassivayam was passed during the session. The bill aims to promote MSME units by exempting them from obtaining licences for the first three years of operation.
The house also passed the Puducherry Town and Country Planning (Amendment) bill, which expects to remove cut-off ceiling to implement regularisation of buildings constructed unauthorisedly or in deviation from the sanctioned plans by levy of regularisation charges. When DMK raised opposition against the bill, the chief minister said that it enables people to get the construction of the buildings regularized under one-time measures, which will also fetch the government revenue.
However, the opposition parties-- DMK and Congress--led by Leader of Opposition R Siva staged a walkout protesting against the presentation of VOA instead of a full budget. Siva said that when the annual allocation for the UT of Puducherry is known, the government should have presented a full budget like other states.
Earlier, the house adopted a resolution condoling the demise of former Speaker of the territorial assembly and Home Minister P Kannan. The home minister, leader of the opposition and other members paid tributes to Kannan and recalled the great role he played in the Puducherry political landscape. Siva also appealed to the government to install a statue of Kannan and name a government school or a street after the veteran leader. This request was supported by Namassivayam.
Speaker R Selvam also made obituary references to the death of agriculture scientist M S Swaminathan, DMDK leader Vijayakanth, CPI (M) leader N Sankariah, spiritual leader Bangaru Adigalar and former Governor of Kerala M Fatima Beevi. A one-minute silence was observed as a mark of respect.
After transacting the scheduled business for just over an hour, the speaker adjourned the House sine die.