The government is taking steps to provide free house site pattas to all eligible persons in the Union Territory, Chief Minister N. Rangasamy said in the Assembly on Tuesday.
Replying to a question raised by Independent legislator P. Angalane, the Chief Minister said there were certain issues related to the implementation of the Special Component Plan (SCP) funds. Implementation of projects under the SCP programme got delayed, because of administrative reasons, he said.
“We are addressing the shortcomings in the implementation of SCP programmes. The government will acquire land, wherever possible, and issue free house-site pattas for those in Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities. The land available with the government will also be given as pattas for eligible persons,” he said.
The SCP fund would be utilised to provide infrastructure facilities in places where SC and ST communities reside, he added.
Airport expansion
Steps are being taken to expand the airport runway to operate wide-bodied aircrafts from Puducherry, Minister for Public Works K. Lakshminarayanan said.
Replying to a query by nominated legislator Ashok Babu, he said the expansion of the airport needed around 273 acres of land in Tamil Nadu and 20 acres on the Puducherry side of the existing runway.
The land acquisition would cost around ₹425 crore. The Tamil Nadu government wanted the Centre or the territorial administration to bear the cost of land acquisition, the Minister said.
“Tamil Nadu is willing to start land acquisition if the cost is going to be incurred by the Centre or UT. We have taken up the issue with the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Ministry of Home Affairs. We are waiting for a response from Centre. If the acquisition cost becomes a factor, the UT has an alternative plan to develop the airport under the PPP (public private partnership) mode, the Minister said.
The government is committed to developing the runway and increasing domestic services. A new private operator has recently approached the government to start services using a 19- seater flight from Puducherry, he added.
To another query by AINRC legislator R. Baskar, the Minister said the government proposed to expand the road stretch from Marappalam junction to Ariankuppam. The Public Works Department had identified 0.98 hectares of land for road expansion. There is also a proposal to construct a flyover at the Marappalam junction, he added.
Published - March 14, 2023 02:29 pm IST
