TN Govt to take steps to vacate interim stay on GO: Veerasamy

Chennai, Mar 28 (UNI) The Tamil Nadu Government will appeal against a Madras High Court order granting an interim stay on a Government Order (Go)seeking to transfer the Unorganised Workers Welfare Boards from the Labour Department to the Revenue Department, Electricity Minister Arcot N Veerasamy told the State Assembly today.

When Mr Kumaraguru (AIADMK) said the workers were against such a move, Mr Veerasamy, intevening, said all Labour Welfare Boards were functioning under the Labour Department, which did not have adequate number of officers throughout Tamil Nadu.

''Because of this, we could not ascertain the validity of the details and the grievances of the workers registered in various welfare boards,'' he said justifying the GO.

''We will file an appeal in the High court citing these reasons and try to get the interim stay vacated,'' Mr Veerasamy added.

Meanwhile, Local Administration Minister M K Stalin, intervening during the debate on Budget, said the first desalination plant in Chennai will start functioning in the next four to five months and an initial allocation of Rs 300 crore was made. Drinking water would be also provided to the people after the project was completed.

He said the project was mooted by the previous AIADMK Regime which subsequently put it in the cold storage. The DMK Government, after assuming power, gave it a fresh lease of life and allotted funds for it.

''Works are on and it will be ready in the next four to five months,'' he added.

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