Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy on Tuesday assured the House that a legislation for constituting the anti-corruption panel, Lokayukta, would be adopted.
Speaking during Zero Hour, the Chief Minister said the government would take steps to constitute the panel very soon.
Raising the issue, AIADMK leader A. Anbalagan said the Union Territory had failed to implement the law passed by Parliament. Several States, including Tamil Nadu, had set up Lokayukta to fight corruption.
On the issue of subsidy for Haj pilgrimage, raised by AIADMK legislator K.A.U Asana, Mr. Narayanasamy said the financial assistance would be given from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.
Each of the 129 persons, who had applied for subsidy this year, would get an assistance of ₹16,940, he added.
Salary issue
When the AIADMK legislator spoke on non-payment of salary to ration shop employees, Social Welfare Minister M. Kandasamy said pending salary for four months had been disbursed to the employees. The remaining one month’s salary would be paid in 10 days’ time.
Appealing to the workers to not go on strike for such issues, the Minister said the government was considering door delivery of ration items as was planned in Delhi. Another AIADMK MLA Bhaskar said non payment of salary would derail distribution of commodities to the beneficiaries.
Earlier, during question and answer session, Minister for Electricity R. Kamalakannan said the government had decided to replace all existing LED streetlights. The department was in the process of scrutinising the tender submitted by a firm, the Minister said.
To a query by Congress legislator K. Lakshminarayanan on the flaws in garbage collection, Minister for Public Works A. Namassivayam said the previous government had entered into a contract with Swatchada Corporation for 19 years. The agreement was silent on cleaning L-drains. The company was being given ₹1,964 for collecting a tonne of garbage.
Mr. Lakshminarayanan said the staff had to work on three shifts and remove the waste as per the agreement. But the company was not adhering to the terms and hence waste was piling up on the streets. The company should display the contact number of their staff in every street so that residents could contact them easily, he added.