New Assembly: Pondy Speaker's plea to LS counterpart

Puducherry, Feb 5 (PTI): The Speaker of the PuducherryAssembly V P Sivakolundhu presented a petition on Friday tothe Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to ensure that Centralassistance of Rs 200 crore was available for the constructionof a new Assembly building here.

The Assembly has to be shifted to alternative site sothat the present building canbe preserved as a monument,the petition said.

The existing premises accommodating the Assembly is aheritage building constructed during the erstwhile Frenchregime, it said.

Sivakolundhu, who handed over the petition to Birla inDelhi, also requested him to see to it that a Secretariat wascreated for the Assembly here through proper Constitutionalamendment.

He made out a case in his petition, a copy of which wasdistributed to reporters by the office of Speaker) that theplea for statehood status for Puducherry be conceded.

He said a resolution was adopted in the recent session ofterritorial Assembly urging the Centre to grant statehood forPuducherry.

''To uphold the spirit of democracy, the voice of thepeople should be respected as much importance needs to begiven to elected representatives and grant of statehood forPuducherry will ensure this,'' he said. PTI CORNVG NVG