Election promises are being fulfilled, says Narayanasamy

Distributing free dhotis and saris to the beneficiaries of Nellithope constituency, from where he was elected to the Assembly recently, the Chief Minister said that the development of the Union Territory was back tracked in the last five years and added that law and order was not in order. He said Puducherry depends on sale tax, excise duty, power tariff and tourism for revenue and funds   to implement schemes and the government will have have to approach the centre to get it. 

Narayanasamy said during the period of M O H Farrok, Vaithilingam, Janakiraman and Shanmugham as Chief Ministers, there were several industries and during the NR Congress regime there was an exodus of industries. Detailing several schemes introduced by the congress government in the last six months, Narayansamy said after becoming Chief Minister, he met Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley five times and sought funds for the union territory.  However, during the NR Congress government tenure, the finance minister was not approached even five times in five years, he charged. The Chief Minister said the union government every year is enhancing fund allocation to states by ten to 12 percent. But since, Puducherry was not included in the finance commission, it is not getting it. 

Five years back, a sum of Rs 2,500 crore was sufficient to pay the salary, DA and pension of government employees, but now it requires Rs 4,100 crore, he said, adding that during the last five years, the nonplan expenditure was reduced and the government failed to seek this from the centre. Narayansamy said while meeting Arun Jaitley, he sought to enhance the allocation for Puducherry by ten percent and the Finance Minister had agreed to take a decision next month. The Chief Minister assured all assistance to Nellithope constituency which elected him to the territorial assembly in the by-election held on November 19.