Tamil Nadu Governor K. Rosaiah on Friday urged film makers to show due respect to the sensitivities of the people while making films and avoid hurting public sentiments.
The governor remarks came in the backdrop Vishwaroopam controversy and a day after Chief Minister Jayalalithaa defended the ban.
In his policy address to the Tamil Nadu Assembly Mr. Rosaiah pointed out that the firmness and resolve and timely intervention of Ms. Jayalalithaa to ban the release of sensitive films like Dam 999, with the potential disturb peace, averted serious law and order problem that could have engulfed the state.
The members of the DMK and Puthiya Tamizhagam (PT) staged a walkout, accusing the state government of failing to resolve various issues concerning the people of Tamil Nadu.
Mr. Rosaiah said under the sagacious leadership Ms. Jayalalithaa, law and order has been well maintained in the state, making it a haven of peace and tranquility.
“This government will not spare anybody who tries to whip up communal passions. Land grabbers, anti-social elements and organizations that threaten public order have been severely dealt with,” he warned.
The Sri Lankan Tamil issue also found a prominent reference in the Governor’s address and he called upon the Indian government to take the issue of blatant violation of human rights and genocide of the Tamil citizen to the international fora.
“The rehabilitation measures taken up by Sri Lankan government to resettle the displaced Tamil people and assuage their feelings are not proceeding as expected,” he said.
Recalling the resolve expressed by the Tamil Nadu Assembly on June 8, 2011, Mr Rosaiah urged Indian government to initiate action by working with other nations for imposition of an economic embargo on Sri Lanka till Tamils living in camps were resettled in their own places and are allowed to live with dignity, self-respect and equal constitutional rights on a par with the Sinhalese.
Tamil New Year and Kambar Award
Mr Rosaiah said the AIADMK government that restored celebration of Tamil New Year to the first day of Tamil month Chithirai would celebrate it in a grand manner this year. It will also confer Kambar Virudhu for the best scholar propagating the ideals of Kamba Ramayanam and Sollin Selvar Virudhu for the best Tamil literary orator.
Earlier, even as the Governor started addressing the House DMK leader in the House M.K. Stalin and PT leader K. Krishnasamy stood up and sought to make a speech. But their remarks were lost in thumping of desks by the treasury benches.
Mr Stalin said the government had failed to resolve power crisis and Tamil Nadu has plunged into darkness. “It also denigrated the suicide of 17 farmers in Cauvery Delta region due to crop loss,” he said.
Dr Krishnasamy said the government was remaining indifferent while PMK leader S. Ramadoss was travelling across the state and making speeches aimed at disturbing amity among various communities.
PTI adds:
Package for Cauvery Delta farmers
With deficient monsoon and Cauvery water sharing dispute with Karnataka affecting agriculture in the state, the Tamil Nadu government today said it would announce a “suitable” relief package to Cauvery Delta farmers.
Governor K Rosaiah told the state Assembly that the state is likely to suffer severely in achieving its food production targets despite the government stating it would bear farmers’ share of crop insurance premium in the Cauvery delta.
“The High—level committee, constituted by the government to assess the loss and recommend relief measures, has submitted its report and government will announce suitable relief package shortly,” he said in his address to the first session for this year.
On the power crisis, which the Governor described as a ’legacy’ left by the previous DMK regime, the government said consumption had gone up by 30 million units between October 2012 and January 2013 at 210 million units per day and various steps were being taken to address the situation.
The Stage III 600 MW Mettur Thermal Power Plant has already commenced trial production while the 500 MW first unit of the joint venture between TANGEDCO and NTPC at Vallur has been commissioned.
The second and third units of this JV totalling 1000 MW are expected to be commissioned in March and October 2013.
Load shedding has come down “considerably” due to efficient operation of power stations, besides procuring electricity from Power Exchanges and other sources, he said.
On the lines of the rain water harvesting initiative, the government would make generation and use of Solar Energy a people’s movement and achieve targeted capacity of 3000 MW, he said while referring to the Solar Energy Policy.
On the Centre’s Cash Transfer scheme, the Governor noted that it is not a “panacea” for all the ills in the present welfare programmes.
The Tamil Nadu government supported cash transfer through banks only for some schemes like social security pensions and scholarships to students, but opposed a similar approach for Universal PDS and fertilizer subsidy, he said.
He also reiterated the Jayalalithaa government’s opposition to the Centre’s FDI in multi—brand retail.
Among others, government announced increasing the annual plan allocation for the year 2013—14 to Rs 37,000 crore from Rs 28,000 crore fixed during the current year.
The government will soon release the second volume of ’Vision 2023’ document, detailing the entire list of projects to be launched to make the state Numero Uno, he said.
Holding that fishermen have been victims of ‘repeated harassment’ and ‘murderous attacks’ by the Sri Lankan Navy, the Governor urged the Centre to impress upon Colombo to “exercise restraint and refrain from making unprovoked attacks on Tamil Nadu’s fishermen, who are also citizens of India.”
