Schemes only with funds, says Jayalalithaa

Chennai: “We are a responsible government and will not announce whatever can be said. We will not announce that we will give two and half acres of land for a family and later change it to the area of the size of a gooseberry”, Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa said in the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Friday, in an obvious reference to DMK chief’s promise to give two and half acres to the landless. 

She was intervening when DMK Deputy Leader Duraimurugan sought some clarification in the Assembly over financial backing for the announcements,
“I think 100 times about the viability of a scheme, before making the announcement. I consult the finance secretary about the availability of funds. I make the announcement after his approval”, she said. The Chief Minister was reiterating that schemes are announced only after obtaining the finance secretary’s nod on funding.

After the Chief Minister made announcements under rule 110, the deputy leader of the Opposition K. Duraimurugan sought permission to speak. Intervening, Jayalalithaa said the member knew that no one could raise questions after an announcement is made under rule 110, but the question he was trying to raise had been raised in the Assembly earlier. He is asking why the Chief Minister is making announcements concerned with various ministries after the discussion on the demand for it had been completed and the ministers had made the announcements.

“All the ideas and projects will not occur to a government at the same time. As far as we are concerned, we are thinking of the people and the schemes which could be brought for them throughout the day”, she said.