By Our Special Correspondent
CHENNAI, SEPT. 14. The last day of the budget session witnessed the ruling party members, led by the Chief Minister, Ms. Jayalalithaa, come up with more allegations against the DMK regime.
Purchase of sodium vapour lamps, allotment of Housing Board plots, tarpaulin and veterinary medicine purchases, copra and rice procurement were among the ``deals'' in which largescale corruption was involved, the AIADMK alleged.
The Chief Minister said sodium vapour lamps were installed in town panchayats and municipalities where tubelights would have sufficed. The then Local Administration Minister was responsible for this, she added.
Giving details, she said a ``tubelight set'' cost only Rs. 740 (Electricity Board rate) while a sodium vapour lamp cost Rs. 3,590. A tubelight consumed only 182.5 units of electricity per annum, while the consumption was 1905 units for sodium vapour lamps. This meant that apart from purchasing costly lamps which the local bodies could ill-afford, they ran up huge arrears to the EB; the bill was Rs.19.75 crores. With tubelights, this would have been a mere Rs.5.85 crores. The loss to the Government to the tune of Rs.7.36 crores and to the EB of about Rs.13.9 crores occurred because of the previous Government, she said.
Between 1996 and 2001, as many as 51,496 expensive lamps were purchased at a cost of Rs.25.40 crores. Instead, had tubelights been used at two for every sodium vapour lamp, they would have cost just over Rs.18 crores.
The former Local Administration Minister, Mr. Ko. Si. Mani, pointed out that when the present Government spent Rs. 3 crores on growing grass, there was nothing wrong in providing better lighting to the people. Besides, local bodies themselves made the purchases. The Chief Minister pointed out that the member was referring to astro-turf when he mentioned grass.
Not to be left behind, the Finance Minister, in his reply, went back to his pet theme of ``scientific corruption'' indulged in by the DMK. Mr.Ponnaiyan, after having time and again referred to one powerful DMK Minister, finally named the Union Industries Minister, Mr. Murasoli Maran, as being close to some big firms like L & T. This led to even tender conditions being drawn up such in a manner as to favour these large firm close to Mr.Maran, he alleged. The modified tender terms formed the basis for `scientific corruption'.
The Housing Minister, Mr. A. K. Selvaraj, said 17 plots in the Besant Nagar division of the Tamil Nadu Housing Board here were allotted to persons close to the former DMK rulers.
Among the beneficiaries were Ms. Ponmani Vairamuthu, wife of the film lyricist, Mr. Vairamuthu, and the television news reader, Ms. Nirmala Periyasamy, the Minister said, responding to a query raised by the Mr. Sekar Babu (AIADMK).
The Minister said legal action would be initiated to retrieve the property which was allotted contrary to rules at a cheap rate under the Government discretionary quota.
While the ruling party members shouted and the DMK members indulged in counter-shouting leading to pandemonium, the Speaker asked the Opposition whether he had the right to deny permission for the members to raise questions. When Mr.Durai Murugan (DMK) answered in the affirmative, the Speaker asked the DMK members to resume the seat.
Later, Mr.Ponmudi said the allotment was made from the discretionary quota. The history of allotment since the formation of the housing board would throw more light on the issue. Mentioning the names of some ruling party Ministers, he said they too were beneficiaries. At this, Mr.Ponnaiyan clarified that he was allotted land long ago, when there was a proposal to make available commercial plots for developing hospitals. The Education Minister, Dr. M. Thambi Durai, was also allotted a plot for the same purpose.
A visibly agitated Education Minister said one former Minister, driven by a desire to own the whole of Anna Nagar, had tried to force him out of his land. His allotment was cancelled and he had to go to court, the Minister said. ``If you want that land now, take it. I have been able to do nothing with it,'' he said.
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