After Madras HC judgment, Puducherry LG Kiran Bedi writes 'open letter' to Puducherrians

Puducherry Lt Governor (LG) Kiran Bedi on Tuesday wrote an open letter to the residents of the Union Territory. Her open letter comes in the wake of Madras High Court ruling that the elected government has more powers than the LG in the union territory.

The original letter in Tamil has been posted by the twitter handle of the Office of Lt Governor.

Bedi talks of several initiatives started by her for providing "better administration" to the people.

"Here is an enumeration of the following actions or initiatives (or 'interference' in day to day administration) by the Lieutenant Governor's Office in the last three years (nearing completion on May 29th)," she wrote in the letter.

Bedi then mentions various initiatives- Beginning with the cleaning of beaches, streets, drains, canals and lakes. Rewarding Swachhata workers, Municipal and PWD workers and volunteers for their cleaning and maintaining the same.

She also claimed of responding to all public grievances reaching Raj Nivas and opening up of Raj Nivas (the official residence of the Lt Governor) to the general public or visitors who were keen to see 250 years old Majestic RajNivas.

Increasing vigilance on the land grab mafia, providing relief to vulnerable citizens, senior and French nationals with the help of Collector, initiating Police Beat Office system, promoting and advocating the use of helmet wearing as a measure of road safety were some of the other initiatives that she mentioned.

"I took all possible measures of Financial prudence to save Puducherry from falling in a debt trap and that the administration observes financial discipline in managing its over 7500 Crore Budget for its 14 Lakh population by strictly following General Financial Rules as approved by President Of India," said Bedi.

"Most of all, I connected Raj Nivas to the people of Puducherry and made it accessible in all respects including a monthly message on Door Darshan jointly with OSD for translating in Tamil," the Puducherry Lt. Governor said.

Bedi claimed that these practices if sustained will keep Puducherry a favoured destination for all-round prosperity of the Union Territory.

"It does not matter who does and how much? Key is that we do and the needs are met. Ideally, all work together to give people holistic good administration. People have to be served. Their needs cannot wait," she added.

The Madras High Court on Tuesday had ruled that the LG of Puducherry cannot "interfere" with the day-to-day administration of the UT.