CHENNAI: Political leaders including the Opposition leader M.K. Stalin on Thursday strongly opposed the proposal to shift the headquarters of Cipet (Central Institute of Plastics Engineering and Technology) to Delhi and urged the Centre to allow its functioning in the city. Expressing shock at the proposed move to shift the headquarters of Cipet from Chennai to Delhi, leader of Opposition M.K. Stalin accused Union minister Ananthakumar belonging to Karnataka is behind the move.
Listing the measures the Centre had taken after the BJP government came to power, Stalin said the traditional sport of Tamils jallikattu had been banned, obstacles had been placed in the formation of Cauvery Management Board, NEET had been made compulsory and the name Neyveli had been removed from NLC and efforts are being taken to privatise the Salem Steel Plant. Ananthkumar acted against Tamil Nadu on the Cauvery issue and he exerted pressure on the centre to oppose the Supreme Court judgment to form CMB.
The AIADMK government is inactive and the AIADMK MPs are indifferent to the interests of Tamil Nadu, he alleged and said such a situation is helping Ananthkumar. Stalin said Ananthkumar should drop the move to shift Cipet and if he is firm, Prime Minister Narendra Modi should interfere and order the continuance of Cipet in Chennai. MDMK general secretary Vaiko said the move was part of plans to privatise Cipet. He said Ananthkumar is trying to shift Cipet headquarters to Delhi and to privatise it further. It is functioning with its own financial resources and had earned '250 crore profit in the last nine years, he added.
CPM state secretary G. Ramakrishnan said Cipet is contributing to the economic growth of the country through research and production. It has several achievements to its credit and is on par with other central government institutions in education of plastic technology. If is self sufficient in providing the wages for the workers and the centre allocates funds only for infrastructure. The Centre should allow the Cipet headquarters to function in Chennai itself, he said. CPI state secretary R. Mutharasan said Cipet is functioning profitably and one of the best research institutions for plastic technology. There was no need to change the headquarters to Delhi since it is functioning efficiently in Tamil Nadu.
