Karunanidhi flays Jaya for not utilising Centre's grant

Chennai, Nov 17: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi today lashed out at former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa for not utilising the grant sanctioned by the Centre for the purchase of radio and television sets for schools, run by Panchayat Unions.

'' Thanks to the ''callous'' attitude of Jayalalithaa, Panchayat Union Schools in the state are deprived of getting two-in-one radio and television sets,'' Mr Karunanidhi said.

In an epistle to party cadres, the DMK Chief said file relating to purchase of two-in-one radio and television sets were sent four times to the Chief Minister's office, but Ms Jayalalithaa never signed the files, till she stepped down after losing power.

He said it was during the fag end of the DMK regime in August, 2000, that the Centre had sanctioned Rs 3,10,40,000 under the New Technical Education Scheme.

Soon, he had ordered for the purchase of 6,100 two-in-one radio and 2000 television sets.

When the AIADMK came to power in 2001, the file was sent to the the Chief Minister's office in April 2002 after approval from the then Education Minister Thambidurai and Education Minister C Ponnaiyan, but it was returned to the Education Department with a query.

With the returning of the file on three other occasions, Education Minister C V Shanmugam forwarded the file, with a note that the scheme be cleared, considering the urgency of the matter, but till the change of Government, Ms Jayalalithaa did not sign the file, he said.

Meanwhile, the Centre had sent a letter to the state government, to know, whether the sanctioned amount was utilised for purchase of radio and television sets and if not, the same could be returned or adjusted against some other Centre's scheme.

As the fund was not utilised, the Centre, in its letter dated February 10, 2006, had informed the state government that it was adjusting the amount in its Information and Communication Technology Scheme, he said.

UNI