R ARIVANANTHAM
PUDUCHERRY, JAN 5
The Puducherry Government has decided to shelve collection of one-time non-refundable drainage connection fee of Rs. 5,000 from residents in future.
A decision on this was taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by the Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy here on Friday evening.
Addressing reporters after the Cabinet meeting, the Chief Minister said
around 66,000 people had not taken drainage connections because of the decision to collect connection charges. Hence, the government has decided not to collect sewer connection charges from residents. The decision would put an additional financial burden of Rs.18 crore for the government.
Live Stock Development Board on the anvil
The Cabinet had decided to constitute Live Stock Development Board to aid and advise the government on measures to be adopted to improve the livelihoods of livestock farmers.
A decision was taken to set up a welfare board for unorganised workers. This would help 29,000 people working in the unorganised sector to get more welfare measures, he added.
The government had decided to implement Seventh Pay Commission recommendations to employees of the Town and Country Planning Department, the Chief Minister said.
A decision was taken to convert five private engineering colleges, which were closed due to lack of patronage to arts and science colleges.
The Local Administration Department had been asked to handover five overhead tanks under its control to the Public Works Department. The decision was taken following complaints of poor maintenance of these tanks, Narayanasamy added.
