Relief for DMK MLAs on Speaker’s request
The Assembly ceded the request of Speaker P Dhanapal not to adopt the resolution penalising seven DMK MLAs for the ruckus unfolded during the trust-vote of the Chief Minister Edappadi K Palanisamy on February 18, besides offering clemency to the said MLAs.
By : migrator
Update: 2017-06-23 18:50 GMT
Chennai
The Privileges Committee Chairman and Deputy Speaker Pollachi V Jayaraman tabled the report on Friday on the complaint from the ruling party MLA P Vetrivel (Perambur), who charged that the said MLAs behaved in a manner that brought disrepute to the House during the trust-vote.
The original motion was moved against the DMK MLAs, including KS Masthan (Gingee), Ku Ka Selvam (Thousand Lights), KS Ravichandran (Egmore), P Karthikeyan (Vellore), P Murugan (Veppanahalli), N Suresh Rajan (Nagercoil) and S Ambeth Kumar (Vandavasi).
Leader of the House and School Education Minister KA Sengottaiyan moved a motion that the House accepted the recommendations, which also included freezing of the MLAs’ salary and other perks during the sixmonth suspension period.
However, Dhanapal, who said he was the one “affected” during the ruckus, requested that the recommendations may not be accepted since six of the seven, excluding Suresh Rajan, were first time legislators.
Thanking the House for its steps to necessitate action over his cause, Dhanapal reiterated that the Speaker was responsible for members and the House was responsible for the Speaker. “The recommendations were aimed at ensuring freedom of expression on the floor of the House without any fear and bearing the people’s welfare in future.
It was done with the view so that it can send out a loud and clear message and lesson to those who believe they can arm-twist the Speaker from discharging democratic duties by use of violence and intimidation,” he added.
Dhanapal observed that the said MLAs had presented apology letters for the ‘incident’ expressing regret and given undertakings that their actions would not bring any disrepute to the House in future, in a meeting on June 21. Responding to the Speaker’s plea, Sengottaiyan said the government would treat the former’s request as his “order”.
He said the ruling benches accepted the speaker’s “culture, humanitarian aspect and mercy,” promptly moving another resolution to withdraw the original one. The second resolution was adopted by a voice vote.
Responding to the issue, Opposition Leader M K Stalin thanked and praised the Speaker for his “generosity” and recalled that he had regretted the DMK members’ unruly action, if any, during the trust vote. DMK’s allies, Congress and IUML, too praised the Speaker.
Later, Dhanapal said he had made an effort for a healthy debate of opinions and suggested that with such an orderly style, the Assembly could set an example on conducting smooth proceedings.
TN Assembly lauds NASA for successful launch of Kalam satellite
The Assembly on Friday lauded a team of young scientists from the state whose satellite was successfully launched by NASA. Named ‘KalamSat’ after ex-President late Abdul Kalam, the satellite weighs just 64 gm and had a payload of a NASA rocket that blasted off from Wallop Island on Friday. According to a release from the team, headed by Rifaath Sharook, KalamSat is a 3.8 cm cube satellite (femto category), “weighing 64 grams.” The Assembly was all praise for Sharook, the lead scientist hailing from Karur and his team. The satellite’s structure was “fully 3D printed” with reinforced carbon fibre polymer, the release from the team, calling themselves Space Kidz India, said. “This apart, we have worked on a CUBE SAT that is going to be launched from the United States in a reusuable rocket,” it added. Handloom Minister OS Manian said the team had developed the satellite at a cost of around Rs 1 lakh and promised to extend financial assistance to it. Opposition Leader M K Stalin also praised the team for its innovation.
Integrated textile park in Ramanathapuram proposed
An integrated textile processing park has been planned to be set up in Ramanathapuram district at a cost of Rs 150 crore with Central grant, the State government said on Friday. The facility when operational would have 30 textile processing units with a capital outlay of Rs 450 crore. It would also create 6,000 jobs, Industries Minister M C Sampath told the Assembly. The park would come up on a 225-acre land in Manakudi village under Tiruvadanai taluk, he said and added that a desalination plant to supply water would also be established at the facility. In order to obtain the grant from the Centre, proposals have been sent and approval is “awaited”. To receive the environmental clearance and the approval of the coastal regulatory zone (CRZ) authority for the project, the CRZ maps and study report have been submitted to the CRZ committee and project approval is awaited, he said.
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