Consolidated pay for MGNREGA workers enhanced: Pondy CM

Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy announced in the territorial assembly on Wednesday that each of the 108 workers engaged under 'consolidated pay' scheme of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act would get enhanced wages.

Consolidated pay, which was Rs 7,500, would be raised to Rs 12,500 a month.

He said the rise in wages would come into immediate effect.

He informed AIADMK member A Anbalagan that the written exam for appointment of ward boys in the government owned Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital which was scheduled to be conducted in English language, has been cancelled.

The test would be conducted in Tamil language only, he said.

Narayanasamy said a desalination project to convert sea water into potable water was the key to meet drinking water needs of residential quarters and industrial units in the Union Territory.

The Chief Minister also said government had also drawn up plans to launch a massive drinking water project with the French government's assistance of Rs500 crore.

He was replying to concerns expressed by opposition AIADMK members Vayyapuri Manikandan and A Anbalagan and Bharatiya Janata party members V Saminathan and Sellaganapathy over unchecked withdrawal of 'sub-soil' water by private industrial units posing threat to drinking water availability.

The Chief Minister asserted that the government would look into the matter.

He also promised members that steps would be taken to ensure that encroachments by business establishments on footpaths and roads were removed.

The government proposed to shift the open air weekly market called 'Sunday Market',functioning in the heart of the town, to some other sprawling site as encroachments by shops had been causing disruption of traffic, he said.

A committee would be formed to ensure smooth operation of the 'operation encroachments' scheme, the Chief Minister added.