Puducherry port minister blames Kiran Bedi for stopping development projects
Puducherry: Puducherry minister of port Kandasamy on Saturday lashed out against the Lt Governor and said that Ms Bedi was putting hurdles in implementation of developmental projects including port development project and airport project.
Port department had awarded a contract to the Dredging Corporation of India (DCI) to dredge 3 lakh cubic metres of sand and deposit them near the Gandhi statue for the beach nourishment project. The DCI was directed to strictly follow the conditions of environmental clearances during the work and a committee was constituted under the chairmanship of secretary of port to monitor the work regularly, said a release from Raj Nivas.
The public works department was directed that the urban sludge and waste water entering the river mouth should be sieved by erecting grids at the respective junction points.
The problem erupted when various organisations raised complaints that DCI did not deposit the proposed 3 lakh cubic metre sand and instead deposited less than 65,000 cubic sand for the beach nourishment project. At this juncture, the Lt Governor sought the intervention of NGT in the ongoing project to ensure proper implementation.
The Lt Governor was of the opinion that the amount of money spent on dredging could be diverted for the welfare of fishermen and if the port can be developed into an alternate tourist spot, it can contribute to both ecological and economic development.
On the other hand, the Lt Governor said that the resumption of air service from Puducherry will not be hindered for any reasons.
Talking to newspersons after a visit to the airport here as part of her weekend visit and planting saplings along with NCC cadets, Ms Bedi said the air service from Puducherry to Hyderabad is to resume on August 16 as per the agreement under the Udan scheme and it will not be hampered.
