Welfare board soon for workers in unorganised sector: Pondy CM

Chief Minister of Puducherry V Narayanasamy on Saturday said a welfare board for workers in the unorganised sector would be set up soon.

He told newsmen here that a cabinet meeting he chaired considered the demand from various workers outfits for the welfare board and decided to set it up for the benefit of 29,000 workers.

It was also decided to set up a livestock development board to promote rearing of livestock by dairy farmers to strengthen their source of income.

The meeting also dropped the government's proposal to collect Rs 5,000 from each of the 66,000 households in the Puducherry and Uzhavarkarai municipal limits for underground drainage connetions.

The government had spent Rs 192 crore to provide the infrastructure for the underground drainage facility, the Chief Minister said.

Levying a fee of Rs 5,000 for each household to connect the houses to the drainage tanks was considered not necessary, hence the proposal to collect the fee has been dropped, he said.

Referring to colleges, he said five privately sponsored engineering colleges remained closed in Puducherry for want of students and the demand of the colleges to convert them into arts and science colleges was conceded.

Children belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes would get free education at all levels, the Chief Minister said.

The staff of the Puducherry Planning Authority would be sanctioned enhanced pay structure in keeping with the report of the Seventh Pay Commission, he said.