1112198916,29940,frontpge Thursday, January 1, 1970 | news@my-tamil.com
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Thursday, January 1, 1970 |
PTI
CHENNAI: Strongly criticising Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Tuesday accused him of hindering the flow of assistance from the centre to the state for providing relief to fishermen affected by the December 26 tsunami.
In a hard-hitting statement, she described as “totally baseless and not backed up by facts”, the allegations levelled by him against the state government.
She said Chidambaram had stated that the state government had not furnished the list of people affected and property damaged due to the tsunami.
She criticised him for being "blissfully unaware" of the teams of officials who had examined various proposals of the state government for providing assistance under various development heads for persons affected by the tsunami.
“It was Chidambaram who was causing a major hitch in the flow of funds to the state for the permanent rehabilitation of the fishermen by insisting on certain procedures and worse still, bypassing the state government”, she charged.
Jayalalithaa accused the Union Finance Minister of undermining her government's efforts to take up permanent rehabilitation work on a war footing.
Chidambaram was trying to keep the pot boiling with some more unwarranted statements on relief to the persons affected by the tsunami, she alleged.
Detailing the comprehensive programme set out by her government for rehabilitation of all sections of affected persons, she said she had announced a policy on housing for those affected in the assembly, which was being widely welcomed.
On his charge that the state government had not given a detailed project report in time regarding the desalination project, she said she had clearly stated that a consultant was undertaking the detailed technical evaluation of the bids received for the project and it would take a minimum of 60 days to complete the evaluation.
She also pointed out that the state government had addressed the centre in December last year to extend financial support to the desalination project on a suggested basis, providing viability gap funding and assistance for the payment support mechanism.
“When this is the position, it cannot be fathomed as to why Chidambaram continues to make totally incorrect statements relating to the project”, she added.
Jayalalithaa said the Union finance Minister had also made a wild allegation on the Sethusamudram project stating that the government had not extended support for the project, and this was the reason for the delay in executing it.
Observing that this was unbecoming of a responsible Union Minister, she asked whether Chidambaram was not aware of news reports indicating serious environmental concerns raised by the PMO on this project.
Quoting media reports, she said neither the shipping, road transport and highways ministry nor the environment and forests ministry had responded to the reported note of the PMO.
