Cong charges Namassivayam with 'inefficient' handling of issues affecting Pondy

Private players intrusion in distribution of power would affect the consumers and hence the power staff should bear in mind the green signal Namassivayam had shown to the Centre to privatise the distribution of electricity in Puducherry. The Congress leader also said that women in rural areas have started questioning the CM N Rangasamy on the necessity to keep ration shops shut for years together.

The Congress on Thursday hit out at the Puducherry Home Minister A Namassivayam for the alleged inefficient handling of key issues concerning the Union Territory.

Addressing reporters at the PCC office here, senior Congress leader V Narayanasamy said, ''Namassivayam's failure to rein in drug menace in Puducherry is a matter of serious concern.'' He said that several heinous crimes had emerged out of ''rampant availability of drugs'' in Puducherry. The Congress leader pointed to the murder of a nine-year-old girl child as one such incident that had occurred because of drug menace.

The police department looked after by Namassivayam had failed to curb the drug menace, he added. The former CM also alleged that Namassivayam had been playing second fiddle to the Centre's stand to privatise the distribution of electricity. ''This privatisation plan meant handing over infrastructures to the private players worth several crores. Private player's intrusion in distribution of power would affect the consumers and hence the power staff should bear in mind the green signal Namassivayam had shown to the Centre to privatise the distribution of electricity in Puducherry.'' The Congress leader also said that women in rural areas have started questioning the CM N Rangasamy on the necessity to keep ration shops shut for years together. ''All essential commodities were available in the neighbouring Tamil Nadu without break. But the shops in Puducherry remained closed, causing sufferings to the common man,'' he said.

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