TN Government urges Centre to take steps for a political solution in Sri Lanka

The Tamil Nadu government has urged the Centre to take vigorous steps in arriving at a speedy political solution to the Sri Lankan Tamils issue.

In his Budget Speech , Finance Minister K Anbazhagan said the Centre should take more vigorous efforts in arriving at a speedy political solution to enable the Sri Lankan Tamils to live comfortably with equal rights.

He said the Sri Lankan Tamils, who have lost their livelihood during the war, were able to return to their original places from the camps on account of the great efforts taken by Chief Minister M Karunanidhi.

''We urge the Union Government to impress upon Sri Lanka to take necessary action for enabling the remaining Tamils still staying in the camps to return to their original places of residence'', he added.

Mr Anbazhagan said with a concern for the welfare of Sri Lankan Tamils living in the refugee camps for many years, the DMK regime had doubled the quantum of financial assistance provided to them.

He said a sum of Rs 100 crore has been announced for improving infrastructure facilities in these camps and provision of houses and works were underway.

'We have also requested the Union Government to take necessary measures to grant permanent Indian resident ship to Sri Lankan Tamils housed in various camps in Tamil Nadu'', he added.

State Autonomy

Regarding the state autonomy, Anbazhagan said, that the Tamil Nadu Government has been consistently urging the Union Government to give their due rights to the States which are serving the people be being closer to them and to refrain from the tendency of enacting laws that take away the powers of State Governments in respect of subjects in the Concurrent list such as Teacher Training, Higher Education etc.

Finance Minister further requested the Government of India to drop the proposed move to centralize all powers relating to higher education by establishing a unitary body of the National Commission for Higher Education. "We have clarified that devolution of powers in this manner is only one aspect of state autonomy, but that in itself can not be equated with state autonomy," Minister added.

"Having regard to the fact that different states in our country are at different stages of development with varied needs and special circumstances, we request the Union Government to formulate schemes after consultation with the State Governments and to provide for flexibility by which the State Governments can modify the schemes according to need and suitability for the respective states", Mr Anbazhagan said.

- Asian Tribune -