A labour court will be opened soon: Rangasamy
The government has proposed to establish a Bench of the Madras High Court in Puducherry at the earliest, Chief Minister N. Rangasamy told the Assembly. Winding up the debate for grants for a few departments in the Assembly on Wednesday night, the Chief Minister said his government would take all steps to set up a Bench of the High Court in Puducherry. A labour court would be opened here very shortly, he added.
Stating that his government was committed to the welfare of police personnel, Mr. Rangasamy said salary for Home Guards would be increased to Rs. 350 a day from Rs. 250 a day and 25 per cent reservation would be provided for them during recruitment of police constables.
Touching upon the controversy in distribution of free rice through Public Distribution System outlets, he said there is shortage in the procurement of single boiled rice and the issue would be sorted out shortly. He also informed the Assembly of the government’s decision to increase pension for journalists from Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 6,000.
Replying to a query on Thursday, Mr. Rangasamy said the administration would consider production of molasses and power in the Lingareddipalayam Co-operative Sugar Mill to make the mill profitable.
When the government mooted the idea of production of molasses, there was opposition from residents as they feared that molasses production would pollute the locality.
Steps were being taken to convince the locals that it was a non-polluting industry and representatives of local residents were taken to industrial units involved in the production of molasses to sensitise them to the facts. Similarly the government was taking steps to modernise the mill, Mr. Rangasamy said.
Admitting that the mill was running on loss, he said the government’s decision to provide more money to farmers than the basic support price fixed by the Union government and salary for workforce were the main reasons for the mill to incur huge loss.
The mill incurred a loss of Rs.1817.96 lakh during 2010-11 and in the current year the mill incurred a loss of Rs.2357.74 lakh so far. An arrear of Rs.4142.59 lakh had to be paid to cane suppliers by the mill, of which Rs.1881.97 lakh was for farmers in Puducherry and the remaining Rs.2260.62 lakh for farmers in the neighbouring State.
