Chennai: Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy said that Central government is doing politics in the coronavirus issue in the States that are ruled by the opposition.
In an interview to a Tamil news channel, he said the Union Territory has not received any funds from the Central government.
“We closed the borders and strict precautions were taken in our fight against coronavirus. There were only three cases and they are too healthy now. We have financial crunch. We have not received our GST compensation yet form the Union government. Arrears amount from the Seventh Pay Commission is yet to be received. We get only 26 per cent subsidy, that too has not been given. Apart from this, the UT has also not received the pensioners’ amount and special grant,” he said.
He further said during his recent interaction with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he reminded him about the Rs 995 crore requested by the UT to fight corona
“Nine CMs including me interacted with Modi. Some CMs did not say anything, A few, especially from the BJP ruled States, requested to extend the lockdown, but no decision was arrived at,” he said.
He further stated that he was not completely satisfied with the measures taken by the Centre in the coronavirus issue.
“We created sounds, lit lamps, as said by PM. But, financially what help has the Central government done to the States?. We did everything what the PM asked us to do. But what is the situation of the people now? Unemployment, poverty prevail. State governments do not have funds, but the Central government has Rs 10 lakh crore of surplus amount from RBI at its disposal. It also has 479 billion dollars as reserve. About 85 million tonnes rice, 45 million tonnes wheat is with the Central government. This should be given to the people. But this has not been done. People should be given money and essentials to survive,” he said.
He also blamed that the Central government does not have a clear plan on what to do next.”They have just announced the lockdown but do not know what to do next. Step by step relaxation of curfew should be done. But the government just keeps releasing new rules now and then and some of them are contradicting with each other. The Centre should be clear on what should be done, we are following whatever it is saying. Just like how steps are taken in medical field to fight corona, there should be a plan to tackle the economic crisis as well. But I don’t think there is any such plan,” he added.