Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy has accused the NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi of ignoring the concerns of the Opposition-ruled States.
Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, the Chief Minister said he had written four times to the Prime Minister seeking an appointment. The Prime Minister’s Office had not responded to the request. In a few instances, the PMO had asked the government to take up matters with the Union Ministers concerned. Certain Ministers responded positively to the request and others did not, he said. The Chief Minister said he had taken up several times the issue of decrease in Central grants to the Union Territory. While the States received 45% of the total budget as Central grants, for Puducherry it had come down from 70% to 25%. With not enough scope for internal resource mobilisation, the UT was finding it difficult to fund welfare and development schemes, he said. He said, the administration had requested at least a 10% increase in Central grants and the waiver of loans taken by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs for the UT prior to the opening of a separate account in the Reserve Bank of India. “I have sought an appointment with the Prime Minister next week also. I hope the request will be conceded,” he said.
SEZ at Mettupalayam
The Ramanujam IT city had evinced interest in setting up a special economic zone at Mettupalayam.
“The government had agreed to provide 10 acre of land and the group had agreed to hold discussion with the administration after 15 days,” he said.