Lt. Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan on Tuesday said she would extend all support to the government to make the Union Territory a great destination.
“I do not believe in power. The Lt. Governor will work in tandem with the elected representatives. That is why I asked to remove the special chair put on the podium for the Lt. Governor. Instead, I prefer to sit in the same kind of chair reserved for the Chief Minister and the Ministers,” she said.
She was speaking while participating in a drive to mark the planting of 75,000 saplings on the occasion of ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ to commemorate 75 years of Independence at Manapet village. “We all should work together without any differences to make Puducherry developed,” she said.
Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister N. Rangasamy said the Lt. Governor had been encouraging the government for all its right decisions. “I have full faith in the Lt. Governor and that she will continue to extend support for all the good decisions of the government,” he said.
In the last five years, development of the Union Territory got derailed due to the power struggle between the previous Lt. Governor and the Congress government, he added.
As promised during the Assembly poll, the Chief Minister said the government would fill all the existing vacancies in various departments. A rough estimate showed that there were around 10,000 vacancies, he added.
“Filling of vacancies is very important to run the government machinery and to provide jobs. Now, the frequent complaint of heads of department is that they do not have the manpower to carry out works,” Mr. Rangasamy said.
Pointing out the availability of land at Manapet, the Chief Minister said the village had a huge tourism potential.
“We will develop Manapet as a major tourism destination with private participation. The support of villages is must in developing the tourism sector,” he added.
The Chief Minister also promised to revive the Murthikuppam fish landing facility. Earlier, the Lt Governor, Ministers, elected representatives and senior officials planted saplings near the Forest Department watchtower at Manapet.
The event was organised by the Department of Forests and Wildlife, and Information and Publicity.