Saturday 11 July 2015

People’s fortune hinges on the fate of a convict?


A day after the Global Investors Meet was postponed for a second time, on this occasion to the month of September, investors have raised doubts on whether the event will take place at all.
With the organisers apparently unable to get their act together and the political situation in the State remaining uncertain in the absence of former Chief Minister Jayalalitha convicted and sentenced for four years’ imprisonment in the disproportionate assets case and her appeal against the conviction awaits verdict in the Karnataka High Court, investors said they are uncertain about the when, or indeed if, the meet will be held.
There are reports that hundreds new buses of the State Transport Corporation are ready to roll out but somehow they have not hit the road as yet. Apart from these, there are hundreds more at various stages of body building. The buses are waiting for ADMK chief Jayalalitha to return as Chief Minister and flag off these buses meant for various branches of STC in different places of the State, in Chennai as was the practice when she was the Chief Minister before her conviction. It is alleged that the department is incurring loss to the tune of several crore everyday due to non-operation of new buses.
“The demand for public transport is increasing each day, especially in cities like Chennai. Against 8,000, the city has only 3,700 buses. Without waiting for politicians, senior officials should roll out the vehicles,“ said a Transport expert. Chennai needs new buses as many of those in service are worn out. “If the new buses are ready and fit to be rolled out, it is high time that the department rolls it out immediately. Many city buses are worn out and noisy”, said A Kavitha, an IT professional at Indira Nagar.
So also, even the few works completed projects like buildings for government offices remained unopened waiting for the possible return of Jayalalitha as CM to be inaugurated wholesale through video-conferencing from the secretariat.
As DMK Treasurer Thalapathi M.K.Stalin compared the present Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam (OP) to out-patients in hospitals unable to venture beyond OP wards, the Chief Minister comes to the Secretariat but could not enter into the Chief Minister’s cabin or occupy the seat. He could neither attend any government function in his capacity as Chief Minister nor declare open even a toilet through video conference facility from the secretariat.
The biweekly ‘Junior Vikatan’ has published a detailed story on 140 subsidised eateries called ‘Amma Unavagam’ all over the State for which buildings have been constructed, vessels for cooking and serving acquired but not opened. The people have to wait for Jayalalitha’s acquittal, if at all, for getting food at subsidised prices.
The ADMK government is suffering from ‘policy and administration paralysis’ with neither the Chief Minister nor his Ministers and the Cabinet as a whole could take any policy or administrative decision and the State government run by an extra-Constitutional authority through a caucus of ‘advisors’.
The ruling party calls Jayalalitha as ‘k¡fŸ Kjšt®’ (People’s Chief Minister); if so, whose Chief Minister is Panneerselvam?
Never before in the history of independent India, have the fortunes of people of a State hinged on the fate of an individual, that too, a convict sentenced to imprisonment by a court! (26-04-15)

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