Chennai: Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa on Tuesday sought from the Centre an annual special grant of Rs 2,000 crore in each of the remaining four years of the 14th Finance Commission Award period up to 2019-2020 as compensation for the ‘adverse treatment’ by the Commission.
She said the loss to Tamil Nadu due to reduction in the share in the divisible pool and discontinuance of special purpose and state-specific grants is estimated at Rs 6,000 crores per annum.
In a memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, she said Rs 2,829 crore were earmarked for Tamil Nadu as State specific needs grant and other grants-in-aid, but only Rs 1,805 crore had been released. She requested the Prime Minister to instruct officials concerned to release the balance grants.
The Chief Minister demanded lifting the ban on 'jallikattu', a traditional sporting event, conducted as part of Pongal festival. "It is inextricably linked to rural, agrarian customs and has religious significance with families donating bulls to temples in fulfillment of vows", she said. The Ministry of Environment and Forests should denotify bulls as 'performing animals from its July 11 2011 notification.
On the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test, she said the introduction of examination would nullify the implementation of polices benefiting the rural students and those from poorer socio-economic background. She wanted measures to continue the existing fair and transparent system of admission to medical and dental colleges in Tamil Nadu on a permanent basis.
She demanded the Union government's funding for increase of 345 MBBS seats. The Centre should expedite the process of finding a location for AIIMS in Tamil Nadu.
She sought further assistance towards restoration and reconstruction of flood damages, sanction of special schemes for construction of the urban poor residing on water courses and water bodies.
Jayalalithaa also wanted additional grant for completion of common effluent treatment plants in Tiruppur. She wanted grant of digital addressable system licence to Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corpration and approval of project for implementation of State-led model of Bharat Net to provide high quality, low cost broadband and other internet services to village panchayats. Jayalalithaa wanted a special relief package for Micro, Small, Medium Enterprises.
The Chief Minister also requested the Centre to restore Scheduled Caste status of Scheduled Caste converts and a legislation to this effect in the ensuing Parliament session.
