The State government would in its Budget announce steps to safeguard small vendors and traders from the impact of demonetisation after examining the measures expected to be announced in the Union Budget on February 1, said Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, who also holds the Finance portfolio.
His assurance came in response to a question raised by DMK MLA Anitha R. Radhakrishnan (Tiruchendur constituency) in the State Legislative Assembly on Tuesday as to whether the government was making any efforts to protect vendors and traders from the negative impact of the withdrawal of high-value currencies. Mr. Panneerselvam urged Mr. Radhakrishnan to be present in the House on Wednesday.
Earlier, Mr. Radhakrishnan accused the AIADMK government of failing to take up with the Centre the hardship being faced by vendors and traders due to demonetisation, as was being done by the governments of other States. At this point, Law Minister C.Ve. Shanmugam took a dig at the DMK by questioning as to why the party, while a constituent of the former Congress-led UPA government, supported the proposal to allow Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the retail sector, which he said was against the interests of retailers and traders.
Fishermen’s woes
While the DMK leaders did not have a readymade reply to this, Mr. Radhakrishnan went on to allege that demonetisation had severely affected fishermen, who couldn’t sell their catch due to shortage of cash.
Responding to his allegation, Fisheries Minister D. Jayakumar maintained that the State government had made available sufficient ATMs for fishermen after holding meetings with bankers. He added that the cash flow could be set right only by the Centre.
Mr. Radhakrishnan also questioned the delay in converting the ring road around Madurai city between Mattuthavani and Kappalur into a four-lane way and alleged that traffic flowing from southern districts to Tiruchi and Chennai suffered as a result. To this, Public Works Department Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami said that a tender had already been floated to hand over the contract for the project.
When Mr. Radhakrishnan pointed out that the annual meetings of District Collectors and Superintendents of Police of all districts have not been held for the last three years, the Chief Minister said routine activities remained unaffected even though the meetings were not held.
