The Hindu               28.06.2013

Annual plan pegged at Rs. 2000 crore

The annual plan outlay of the Union Territory of Puducherry for the fiscal 2013-14 has been pegged at Rs. 2000 crore.

The outlay was arrived at a meeting between the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Puducherry Chief Minister N. Rangasamy in New Delhi on Thursday.

The plan size is Rs. 1,000 crore less than the previous year.

The Commission had approved Rs. 3000 crore for 2012-13 that included Rs. 800 crore, which was asked to be generated by the territorial administration through World Bank for “Thane” cyclone rehabilitation.

However, it did not materialise reportedly due to non-approval of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The Planning Commission has totally agreed to the plan size proposal submitted by the territorial administration based on the decision taken at the Puducherry Planning Board meeting held recently.

Asked about the outcome of the meeting with the Planning Commission, Mr. Rangasamy told The Hindu over phone from New Delhi that he was satisfied with the outcome.

“It went off well. The Commission totally agreed to the plan size proposal. It is a realistic plan.”

A senior official, who participated in the meeting, said that Mr. Ahluwalia appreciated the territorial administration for the realistic demand considering the current financial situation.

Mr. Ahluwalia also termed the downsized plan proposal a bold step, the official said.

The discussion was centred on the implementation of various tourism projects in Puducherry.

Tapping of Centrally Sponsored Schemes, particularly Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewable Mission (JNNURM), expansion of Puducherry airport with the support of Tamil Nadu government, setting up an airport in Karaikal with private initiative, setting up of a power plant in Karaikal under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode, connecting Karaikal with national power grid and others were discussed in the meeting.

Chetan B. Sanghi, Chief Secretary; K.R. Meena, Resident Commissioner; W.V.R. Murthy, Secretary, Finance; P.R. Meena, Secretary, Public Works Department attended the meeting.

The Hindu               28.06.2013

Illegal data entry: Tirunelveli Corporation files police complaint

Special Correspondent

The Tirunelveli Corporation filed a complaint with the police seeking a probe into entry of illegal electronic data on tax fixation in its computers, Mayor Vijila Sathyananth said.

When Councillor T.N.Umapathi Sivan raised a question in the Corporation Council meeting held here on Thursday, the Mayor admitted that tax details were fed into the computers of the Corporation by some people hired for this purpose.

Presenting a statement in the meeting, Ms.Vijila said the 10 data entry operators and an assistant programmer, all appointed by Bits Computer Systems, Palayamkottai, to which the work had been outsourced, were working in the urban civic body’s four zonal offices and the central office.

To download the orders pertaining to property tax, change of name, change of name in drinking water connection, building plan approval and registration of births and deaths, these personnel had been given separate User IDs.

Using one of these IDs, someone entered a property tax amount for the house of one Padma of NGO New Colony into the Corporation’s server even before an official assessment was done to fix the quantum of tax.

When it was detected, a comprehensive examination was done, and it was found that there were 55 other such entries made into the Corporation’s server.

The Mayor alleged that the internal investigation conducted by the Corporation officials had revealed that Raj Kannan and Baby Rani from Bits Computer System were involved in the criminal act.

She said the entire system would be revamped and made error-free.