I'm happy to have a Lt Governor working in tandem with elected govt: Puducherry CM

Chief Minister of Puducherry N Rangasamy on Friday expressed happiness over having a Lieutenant Governor who, he said, was functioning in tandem with the elected government in the Union Territory.

Felicitating Tamilisai Soundararajan at a function in Raj Nivas, her residence-cum-office, on her completion of one year in office as Lt Governor, he said, ''There has been no proposal forwarded to her for approval getting rejected; on the contrary files received her nod without delay and as expeditiously as possible.'' Rangasamy, who is heading the AINRC-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition rule here, said schemes like gift hampers for Pongal or Deepavali and several other proposals had instant approval at the hands of Tamilisai.

The Chief Minister said she was holding the post of Lt Governor of Puducherry under additional charge as she is also Governor of Telangana. ''In the morning, she is in Puducherry and in the evening in Telangana, and the next day she flies to Delhi,'' he said.

Reacting to the felicitations, Tamilisai said, ''I am committed to provide a transparent administration in Puducherry that will meet the requirements of every section of people.'' She said her plan was that Puducherry should make greater progress in health and welfare sectors.

She said the weekly meetings to review the implementation of schemes to keep Puducherry safe from Covid-19 were helpful. ''The Puducherry administration did not go in for total lockdown but adopted restrictions without hitting the livelihood sources of the people,'' she said. Later, she released a book 'A Year of Positivity' highlighting her performance during the last one year and the first copy was received by Chief Minister. Speaker of the Territorial Assembly R Selvam, Ministers, legislators and officials from Central and State government departments were among those present. Tamilisai Soundararajan succeeded Kiran Bedi in the post of Lt Governor.