Minister calls for recovery of hoarded commodities

Puducherry, Apr 12 (UNI) Union Minister of state for Parliamentary Affairs and Planning V Narayansamy today called upon state governments, particularly those ruled by opposition parties to take steps to recover hoarded commodities to bring down inflation.

Addressing a press conference here, some opposition parties at the Centre were waxing eloquent about inflation which is 7.4 per cent in the country, 10 per cent in China and 17 per cent in America.

But the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister are taking steps to bring down inflation such as reducing import duty on cooking oil.

He said the plan allocation for the union territory during the 11th plan is Rs 10787 crore which is 26 per cent more compared to the 10th plan period. He said out of the total allocation, Rs 5,546 crore would be allotted for social welfare, health and education sectors. The amount would be distributed in the next five years, he added.

Mr Narayansami said the annual plan allocation for Puducherry for 2008-09 was Rs 1,750 crore which should be utilised for the overall development of the union territory.

He said as the minister for planning he is ready to help Puducherry and Tamil Nadu for development and added that if the Puducherry administration evolves a scheme to enhance the power generation in the gas based plant at Karaikal to 100MW from the present 32 MW, he would take steps to get the approval of the centre.

He would help if the state governent takes initiatives to implement centrally sponsored schemes to get a fund to the tune of Rs 250 crores, he added.

He said the Centre got every responsibility to ensure that the funds allocated for a scheme in the states were utilised for the purpose only and added that the centre had already sent notices to state governments to coordinate properly at district levels to implement centrally spnsored rural schemes and would remind them.

He said there was every possibility of the JIPMER autonomy Bill being introduced in Parliament soon incorporating the suggested modifications. This would help JIPMER to get more allocation and create more departments, he added.

Mr Narayansami also assured to take steps to get more power for Puducherry, B2 status for Puducherry town and to find an amicable settlement to the problems of the Anglo-French Textile mill workers.

Answering a question, he said as the minister for Parliamentary affairs, he would support the women's reservation bill.

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