CHENNAI: The Opposition parties on Tuesday faulted the Government for not taking proactive steps to help small and marginal farmers and for not giving back benefits due to Government employees.

Speaking on the interim budget proposals for 2006-07 in the Assembly, V. Sivapunniyam (Communist Party of India) quoted statistics to drive home his point that productivity in the Cauvery delta was going down and criticised the Government for not stepping in with appropriate policies.

As he continued to highlight problems in the agriculture sector, the Agriculture Minister interrupted Mr. Sivapunniyam repeatedly, ignoring his request that he be allowed to complete his speech. At one point, Mr. Sivapunniyam said: "Let the Agriculture Minister speak on my behalf."

The DMK members, including Durai Murugan and K. Ponmudi, wanted the legislators to be shielded from interruptions by the Ministers. Speaker K. Kalimuthu said the rule would not apply to Ministers. But fellow members could not interrupt when an MLA was speaking.

Patali Makkal Katchi president G.K. Mani said Government employees were at the receiving end of recent policies. Job opportunities in various departments were declining by the day. The only way to ensure that the poor and the marginalised were employed was to bring in a law to introduce reservation in the private sector.

Mr. Kalimuthu wanted to know if there was reservation in the IITs and IIMs. Mr. Mani said that his party had conducted a seminar and had recommended to the Centre that reservation be introduced in the premier institutes.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) member K.C. Karunakaran said the decision to take over cable TV operations was correct.

The Government should give up all its privatisation initiatives. It should give up its move to privatise bus routes and part of the operations of the electricity board.

Mr. Karunakaran wanted to know if the 1.7 lakh Government jobs that were vacant for the past two years would be filled and the services of the teachers taken on contract regularised.

He sought to know how many pattas were given to the poor in the past one year.

Revenue Minister O. Paneerselvam explained that Rs. 50 crore had been set apart for the scheme. In the first phase Rs. 31 crore was allotted. A total of 75,129 pattas would be given by the month-end.

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