Will convince Centre to drop CAA; dual citizenship for Sri Lankan Tamil refugees: BJP ally AIADMK
Chennai, Mar 14: The ruling AIADMK on Sunday unveiled a super populist manifesto for the April 6 Assembly polls, promising, among others, houses free of cost to people, Rs 7,500 annual subsidy to farmers, free solar cooking stoves and washing machines.
Educational loan waiver, government jobs to families without anyone in state service and many more sops were announced.
Notably, the ruling party, an ally of the BJP, said it would urge the Centre to scrap the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act and strive to bring education to the state list from the concurrent list of the Constitution.
Essential commodities given through Public Distribution Outlets would be door delivered to beneficiaries.
An initiative along these lines was recently launched by the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh government.
Increase in maternity leave for women government employees from nine months to one year and construction of new buildings with modern medical facilities for about 2,000 Amma Mini Clinics found mention in the manifesto.
To those not owning houses,the government would build and provide houses free of cost in rural and urban areas under the 'Amma Illam Thittam' (Amma Housing Scheme) and interest on housing loans availed from cooperative housing societies would be waived on loan repayment.
As part of measures to bring about economic equality, Rs 1,500 per month would be disbursed to all ration card holders and the amount would be credited to bank accounts of woman family heads, senior AIADMK leader C Ponnaiyan said here.
Women would get a 50 per cent fare cut in town buses, Ponnaiyan, also the party's organising secretary said, underscoring the important aspects of the manifesto at the party headquarters.
Distribution of solar powered cooking stoves, washing machines and six LPG cylinders a year -all free of cost- to rice category ration card holders, a subsidy of Rs 7,500 per year to farmers to incentivise farm production were among the over 160 promises made by the ruling party, that has been in power in Tamil Nadu since 2011.
"To protect the interests of students and parents, educational loans would be waived," the party said. However, aspects like criteria for waiver and beneficiaries was not known immediately.
Steps to get fuel prices reduced, expanding the rural employment guarantee scheme to 150 days from the present 100, increase in subsidy under the Amma Green Housing Scheme from Rs 2.43 lakh to Rs 3.40 lakh were promised.
College students who have been getting 2 GB data to support studies would get it throughout the year.
"For sure, a government job will be provided to one person from a family without anyone in government service."
Increase in social security pensions for beneficiaries, including senior citizens, from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000, 'Amma's gift (Amma Seervarisai)' like household items for newly wed couples under the state's marriage financial support scheme, free of cost cable TV connections to rice ration card holders and two free mosquito nets to poor were among the promises.
The financial assistance to differently abled would be increased to Rs 2,500 from Rs 1,500.
Continued support for release of seven Rajiv Gandhi assassination case convicts, steps to ensure welfare of Tamils in Sri Lanka and to get dual citizenship for Sri Lankan Tamil refugees living in camps in India were assured.
The AIADMK said it would further expand the nutritious meal programme for school students and give laptops to students of self-financing classes of government schools.
Milk (200 ML milk or milk powder) to school students and children attached to Anganwadi centres and Rs two cut in state run Aavin milk price were some of the planned initiatives.
'Amma banking card' scheme to provide interest free loans (in association with banks) to help ordinary and poor people repay loans in installments and Rs 25,000 subsidy to purchase e-Autos were assured.
AIADMK pledged to set up an Islamic university, increase assistance to Hindu pilgrims to visit important centres of pilgrimage in India, hike Haj subsidy from Rs six crore to Rs 10 crore and bear the full fare for Jerusalem pilgrims.
Increase in the quota for women in government jobs to 40 per cent (from the current 30 per cent) and appropriate reservation for all castes are some of the other key aspects.
Features, including quota for women in state jobs, found in the ruling party's 163-point manifesto has already been promised by the DMK, which released its poll document on Saturday.
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JK: Death toll mounts to 41 after record rains in Jammu; Jhelum floods Srinagar, Anantnag
Jammu/Srinagar(PTI): After record rains wreaked havoc in Jammu and Kashmir over the past two days, the death toll in related incidents rose to 41, most of them victims of the landslide on a Vaishno Devi pilgrimage route, while there was some let-up in the showers on Wednesday, allowing relief efforts to pick up pace.
The water level in the swollen rivers across Jammu showed signs of receding from 11 AM, but the flood alert mark was breached by the Jhelum in Anantnag and Srinagar and water entered several residential and commercial areas.
Massive damage has been reported to public infrastructure, including several key bridges, private houses and commercial establishments, due to overflowing of water bodies and flash floods across the Union Territory, officials said, adding more than 10,000 people have been evacuated from low-lying flooded areas.
As torrential rains disrupted normal life, Education Minister Sakina Itoo announced that all educational institutes will remain closed across Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday in view of the inclement weather.
The Northern Railways ordered the cancellation of 58 trains to and from Jammu and Katra stations, while 64 trains were short-terminated or short-originated at various stations in the division.
Rail traffic, which was briefly restored on Wednesday morning with six trains departing from Jammu after a day-long suspension, has again been halted due to flash floods and heavy soil erosion in the Chakki river area, the officials said.
With the rain stopping in some areas, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah rushed to Jammu from Srinagar to personally review the situation in the region.
Officials said that the phone and network services were restored across all networks on Wednesday, 24 hours after the damage to optical fibres caused outages in the Union territory
The death toll in the Vaishno Devi landslide has gone up to 34 with rescuers pulling out more bodies from under the debris, the officials said, a day after the disaster struck the route to the hilltop shrine in Jammu and Kashmir's Reasi district.
At least 20 people were injured in the landslide triggered by incessant heavy rain and are undergoing treatment in different hospitals, the officials said, adding the landslide struck near the Inderprastha Bhojnalaya at Ardhkuwari, about halfway along the winding 12-km trek from Katra to the shrine, at around 3 PM on Tuesday.
With more people feared trapped, rescue teams are continuing to dig through the mounds of rubble to look for survivors.
The pilgrimage to the shrine remained suspended for the second day. While the yatra had been stopped on the Himkoti trek route since morning on Tuesday, it was going on on the old route till afternoon when authorities decided to suspend it as a precautionary measure.
Jammu has recorded 380 mm of rainfall in the past 24 hours ending at 8.30 AM on Wednesday, which is the highest for a 24-hour period since 1910 when the observatory was set up in the winter capital.
Four people, including three women, lost their lives in Doda district on Tuesday, while two bodies were found on Tuesday, including that of a BSF jawan in Pragwal. The other body found in Akhnoor is yet to be identified. Body of an irrigation department employee was found in Lakhanpur along the border of Punjab.
Heavy rains were also experienced in the Kashmir valley overnight, where the main Jhelum river has crossed the flood alert mark at Sangam in Anantnag district and at Ram Munshi Bagh in Srinagar this morning.
In Srinagar, water entered the residential areas in Kursu, Rajbagh, Bemina and Sekidafar, while most places in main Anantnag town also saw flood waters enter residential as well as commercial areas, leaving markets submerged, they said.
The waters also entered the district court complex in Anantnag district in south Kashmir, following which the district judge and other staff had to be evacuated by the SDRF personnel using a boat, the officials said.
The district administrations and police in Anantnag, Kulgam and Srinagar had to evacuate people living in low-lying areas to safety.
The Jammu-Srinagar national highway remained closed for vehicular traffic, along with over a dozen other roads struck by landslides over the past couple of days.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his prayers are for everyone's safety and well-being.
"The loss of lives due to a landslide on the route to the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Temple is saddening. My thoughts are with the bereaved families. May the injured recover at the earliest. The administration is assisting all those affected," he said in a post on X.
Chief Minister Abdullah said he has briefed Prime Minister Modi on the situation arising from heavy rains and flooding in the Jammu region and expressed gratitude for his assurance of continued assistance to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
The chief minister said they were slightly relieved as the rain had stopped on Wednesday.
"As compared to yesterday, we have got slight relief today (Wednesday) with the fact that the rains have stopped. Water is slowly receding in low-lying areas," he said.
Officials said said a flash flood washed away 10 residential houses and a bridge in the remote Margi area of Kishtwar district, but there was no immediate report of any casualties.
The rains continued non-stop in most parts of the Jammu region over the past 24 hours with almost all water bodies, including Tawi, Chenab, Ujh, Ravi and Basanter, flowing several feet above the danger mark, the officials said.
However, the water level in most of the water bodies started receding after the rains stopped at around 11 AM, though the weather remained cloudy.
On August 14, a cloudburst triggered flash floods in Chisoti, the last motorable village en route to the Machail Mata shrine, in Kishtwar district leaving behind a trail of death and destruction. At least 65 people, mostly pilgrims, were killed and more than 100 were injured, while 32 are still missing.
