
CHENNAI: Denying the allegation of the opposition parties that the DMK government has appointed special officers (SOs) to rural local bodies in 28 districts to delay the election, Rural Development Minister I Periyasamy on Saturday told the Assembly that the ruling party is always ready to face election and that the special officers have been appointed to complete the delimitation and re-organisation of the local bodies, in accordance with the directions issued by the Madras High Court.
Replying to the apprehensions raised by MLAs of different parties during the discussion on a bill to amend the Tamil Nadu Panchayats Act to ratify the appointment of SOs, the minister said during the previous AIADMK regime, the tenure of such SOs was extended 11 times.
PMK’s GK Mani said the tenure of the SOs should not be extended any further and elections should be held at the earliest. KP Anbazhagan (AIADMK) said since the government is saying that the delimitation and reorganisation would take additional time, it indicates that there is no intention to hold elections in the near future. CPM and CPI MLAs also stressed for early elections.
Bill to amend Forest Act
Meanwhile, the bill to amend the Tamil Nadu Forest Act introduced by Minister of Forests, K Ponmudy, enabling the expeditious declaration as reserved forest the lands obtained for compensatory afforestation in return for forest land given to any user agency for non-forest purposes.
SS Balaji (VCK), T Ramachandran (CPI), and T Velmurugan (Tamilaga Vazhvurimai Katchi) complained that the Bill, which they deemed important, was given to the members only on Saturday morning. The Speaker said this would not happen hereafter. Both bills were adopted by a voice vote.