Denotify bulls from list, allow jallikattu, O Panneerselvam tells Centre
Chennai: Demanding that bulls be denotified from the list of performing animals, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam on Wednesday asked the Union Government to bring amendments to Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act to ensure conduct of jallikattu this Pongal.
With just three weeks to go for the harvest festival of Pongal, Panneerselvam reminded the Union Government that his predecessor late J. Jayalalithaa had passionately fought for necessary amendments to the law to ensure that the famous bull taming festival is conducted.
Jallikattu has not been held in Madurai district for the past two years due to a Supreme Court ruling banning the sport. In the speech, read out by forest minister Dindigul C. Srinivasan, the Chief Minister reiterated Tamil Nadu’s demand for retrieval of Katchatheevu island from Sri Lanka, putting an end to attack on Indian fishermen from Tamil Nadu, extension of Chennai-Vishakapatnam Industrial Corridor till Tuticorin and continuation of the current level of Central support for SC/ST scholarships beyond 2016-17.
Paying rich tributes to late Jayalalithaa, Mr Panneerselvam said his government is committed to ensure that the vision, goals and objectives of “our revered leader are fulfilled and realised.”
Noting that all the coastal districts of Tamil Nadu will be covered with 15 VHF towers and VHF sets provided for motorized and mechanised boats, the state government wanted the Union Government to expeditiously grant the remaining end user and operating licenses.
“Tamil Nadu requests that the proposed extension of Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor up to Kochi, should be integrated with Coimbatore-Salem and Coimbatore –Madurai Industrial Corridors outlined in the Tamil Nadu Vision 2023,” he said.
On the issue of adequate allocation of funds for the scholarships for Scheduled Castes and Tribes, Mr Panneerselvam said as on date, a huge amount of '2019.09 crores is still to be reimbursed by both the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs to the Government of Tamil Nadu.
“We strongly recommend that the current level of Central support for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes scholarship programmes must be continued beyond 2016-17,” he said.
Tamil Nadu had already raised certain concerns regarding the purchase and sales effected through e-commerce portals not being properly reported to the commercial taxes departments of states, he said and stressed the need to maintain parity in the application of tax and other regulatory laws between e-commerce entities and brick and mortar shops to maintain a level playing field.
Noting that Tamil Nadu is in a position to sell about 1000 MW of wind power to other states, he said the government of India should establish a dedicated inter-state green energy corridor at the earliest, so that surplus wind energy from Tamil Nadu can be transmitted to other states.
Mr Panneerselvam said in the case of all joint venture projects, the land brought in by the state government and by the government of India ministries should be treated as the equity contribution of the respective Governments. “The entire cost of the land brought by the state governments should be included in the project cost to ensure fair valuation of the contribution made by the governments,” he said.
