A government order was issued on Friday last, sanctioning Rs. 45 crore initially to improve the basic amenities of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees’ camps and extend the coverage of welfare measures to the refugees, according to Chief Minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president M. Karunanidhi.
In a statement on Monday, he recalled the Cabinet’s decision taken a few weeks ago and gave details of the works to be carried out. The remaining amount would be earmarked for building concrete houses through the Rural Development department after formulating suitable designs and identifying appropriate lands.
As for All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader Jayalalithaa’s criticism of Mr. Karuanidhi’s statement issued last week on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the DMK president recalled that when the AIADMK was in power, a resolution, moved by Ms. Jayalalithaa, was adopted by the Assembly in April 2002. The resolution had called upon the Central government to urge the Sri Lankan government to capture LTTE leader V. Prabakaran and get him extradited. It also wanted the Centre to send the Army to Sri Lanka, with the consent of the island government, to nab Prabakaran for trial in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case as the LTTE leader was the prime accused. The resolution urged the Centre to ensure that no member of the LTTE be allowed to enter the country.
The DMK leader added, those who said that they would always stand by Prabakaran, were supporting Ms Jayalalithaa to attack him (Mr Karunanidhi).
Giving an account of the sales of toor dhall, urad dhall and palmolein oil over the months, he said the volume of sales in October was over 100 per cent higher than in each commodity than what it was in January. This showed that the scheme was one of the important measures aimed at benefiting the poor and middle class.
