By IANS
Puducherry : The Puducherry assembly Thursday unanimously adopted a resolution, renewing the union territory’s demand for full statehood.
Officials said that this was only a follow-up action initiated by Chief Minister N. Rangasamy to underline the need to take forward the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the union territory and central government, signed by him and Panchayati Raj Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar last year.
The legislators are clearly agitated over the delay in the matter.
“Our aspirations for the full statehood have been relegated to the backburner for a long time. In the past – in 1980, when Tamil Nadu entertained hopes of annexing us, we gave a fitting reply by rejecting the AIADMK during the then polls,” a Congress legislator said.
“But, despite our party being at the helm of affairs in New Delhi, we are still being treated with contempt. Instead of beefing up our fiscals and granting more administrative powers on the basis of the MoU, we are being driven from pillar to post,” the legislator said, not wishing to be named.
The officials, however, said that various committees had been formed at district levels and the Rs.28.58 billion annual budget had provided for a number of socio-economic development programmes in the entire union territory.
These include signing agreements with the government of neighbouring Tamil Nadu for riparian rights and with National Thermal Power Corporation for additional power. Further, with the implementation of value added tax (VAT) from since July 1, growth has been accelerated, they said.