'Govt committed to improve Puducherry's socio-economic aspect'

PUDUCHERRY: Puducherry Lt Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan on Thursday said the territorial government is fully committed to improving the socio-economic aspect of the Union Territory, especially eradicate poverty.

Soundararajan, who kickstarted the budget session (2023-2024) of Puducherry Assembly said, ''Union Territory of Puducherry has been developing well in all aspects. The government is fully committed to improve socio economic development of Union Territory.''

The Lt Governor, in her hour-long customary address in Tamil on the opening day of the budget session of the House, said ''the government is fully committed to eradicate poverty and is meticulous in distribution of resources proportionately to all the regions (Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam) so as to avoid regional imbalances.''

Highlighting the performance of various departments during the fiscal 2022-23, she said ''the government has made Puducherry a most preferred industrial investment destination by taking strong and specific initiatives to ensure timely and hassle-free guidance and clearance to new entrepreneurs.''

To motivate new entrepreneurs, the government has been providing subsidy under the ''motivation of entrepreneurs and fiscal assistance to industries.''

Soundararajan noted that the Union Territory is ''placed on top rank with overall score of 65.99 percent in the social progress index (SPI) released for all the States and Union Territories. This index is used for ranking comprised components like Water and Sanitation, Shelter, Personal safety, personal freedom and choice.''

The survey was conducted by the Institute for competitiveness mandated by the Economic Advisory Council of the Government of India, she pointed out and said that Puducherry government had performed well on the financial front during 2022-2023.

After the release of additional assistance of Rs 1,400 crores by the Centre, an amount of Rs 11,500 crores had been allocated towards expenditure for fiscal year 2022-2023, she said.

''The Gross State Domestic product (GSDP) of Union Territory had been estimated at Rs 39,019 crores (current price) for 2022-2023 which is 4.09 percent higher than the previous year. The per capital income of Puducherry increased from Rs 2,14,913l (current price) for the year 2021-2022 to Rs 2,22,451 for the year 2022-2023 showing a growth rate of 3.51 percent.''

After the Lt Governor presented her address and left the House, the Parliamentary Secretary to Chief Minister A John Kumar moved the motion of thanks to her address and the Government whip A K D Arumugham seconded the motion.

The Speaker R Selvam adjourned the House to meet on Friday.