: The Tamil Nadu Government will continue to offer affordable essentials and services to the people under the ‘Amma’ brand of schemes and will also strive to establish the anti-corruption body, the Lokayukta, according to Governor K. Rosaiah.
Addressing the 15{+t}{+h}Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly on Thursday, Mr. Rosaiah said the pioneering price control measures already taken by the AIADMK government such as Amma pharmacies, Amma canteens, Amma drinking water, Amma cement and Amma salt have insulated the poor and middle-class families from the burden of price rise.
“These novel initiatives will be continued,” he said to the loud thumping of the desks by the ruling party MLAs. Likewise, flagship schemes like the free distribution of goats/sheep and milch cows, which have transformed the lives of poor rural women, will be continued.
As the Amma Call Centre “…has emerged as an effective grievance redressal mechanism responding to public calls round the clock,” it will further be strengthened, he said, adding that novel initiatives like the expansion of e-seva centres will be taken up to ensure an efficient public delivery system.
Historic verdict
In his address, Mr. Rosaiah said the people of Tamil Nadu have delivered a historic verdict by giving a consecutive second term to the party in power after a gap of 32 years and have reposed faith in the leadership of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.
“This historic verdict has vindicated the people-friendly policies and programmes implemented by the government under her leadership,” he said.
Centre-State relations
Mr. Rosaiah said the members are well aware that though more taxation powers are vested with the Centre, the functional responsibility for actual delivery of vital public services is with the State governments.
The resource distribution was skewed in favour of the Centre, while the State has to shoulder more responsibilities without matching resources. Therefore, while working with the Centre for overall development, the State will continue to insist on fair and adequate sharing of financial resources between the Centre and State, he said.
Lokayukta
As the government was committed to improving transparency in administration, it will establish Lokayukta in the State through appropriate enactment of legislation, once the proposed amendments to the Lokpal Act are enacted by Parliament, he said.
The government will continue to fight for its legitimate rights in various inter-state water disputes and strive to ensure declaration of Tamil as an official language of the Centre and Madras High Court, the Governor said.
‘Debate and deliberate’
Outlining the policies and initiatives of the government, Governor Rosaiah said the House has the onerous responsibility of ensuring healthy and constructive deliberations and setting the highest standards of democracy.
He hoped that the Assembly will debate and deliberate on important issues and come out with pioneering development-oriented policies and programmes.
