Expressing satisfaction over his recent meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Ministers during his first visit to New Delhi, Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy on Saturday said he was optimistic that the Centre would extend help to develop Puducherry.
Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, he said the Prime Minister had given him a patient hearing during the meeting.
He had also assured that a favourable decision would soon be taken on the demands highlighted in his memorandum for development of the Union Territory.
“Mr. Modi showed keen interest and listened to all our representations. The meeting with Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was also satisfactory ”, Mr. Narayanasamy said.
Reviving airport
On his meeting with Union Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu, the Chief Minister said the Minister had asked the government to come out with a master plan to construct 5,000 houses for the homeless in Puducherry. The Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had also promised to take care of all sectors of the UT.
Referring to the need for reviving the airport here, Mr. Narayanasamy said that small aircraft with a seating capacity of 60 could be operated to link Puducherry with Bengaluru, Tirupati, Hyderabad and Kochi. The Government will hold talks with Tamil Nadu Government for expanding the runway in the airport. The new Civil Aviation policy unveiled by the Centre would be favourable for small States and Union Territories such as Puducherry.
The government has also proposed to establish an airport in Karaikal. Mr. Narayanasamy said that he and his cabinet colleagues had laid out before the Centre the situation arising out of opening a separate Public Accounts for the UT in 2007. Although this arrangement had helped Puducherry to go in for open market borrowing, several other hurdles had cropped up in toning up the fiscal situation.
Waiving loans
The Chief Minister said that he had requested Mr. Rajnath Singh to waive the accumulated loans of Rs.2,177 crore and return the interest component of Rs.1,308 crore to Puducherry.
