Tamil Nadu Assembly’s Brief and Stormy Monsoon Session

The monsoon session of the Tamil Nadu government began on Monday and lasted for three days. Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu submitted Tamil Nadu government’s first supplementary estimates for additional expenditure of Rs 2,893.15 crore for the financial year 2023-24. The respective department ministers responded to the questions raised on the floor.

Finance Minister Thangam Tennarasu spoke in response to the discussion on the grant request. He said “the contribution of Tamil Nadu as direct tax to the central government was Rs 5.16 lakh crore in the financial year 2014-15 to 2021-22. However, Tamil Nadu received only Rs 2.08 lakh crore as tax distribution during this period.” “If we compare the same with BJP-ruled states, the conditions are different” he added.

Ten bills were passed, including hike of road tax for vehicles and salary hike for retired MLAs. 

Resolutions was placed to draw attention to various issues including the Cauvery water dispute, the release of long-term Muslim prisoners, increase in electricity fare for MSMEs, and firecracker unit accidents.

‘RELEASE CAUVERY WATER’

On the first day of assembly, Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin proposed a resolution urging the union government to order the Karnataka government to release water to Tamil Nadu as per Supreme Court direction. He said this will protect the livelihood of Cauvery delta farmers, which is the backbone of Tamil Nadu’s agriculture.

Members of AIADMK, Congress, CPI, CPI(M), VCK, MDMK and PMK supported the resolution. BJP members staged a walk-out.

Speaking to the media, BJP MLA Vanathi Srinivasan said, “Since the resolution introduced by the chief minister is not a complete and permanent solution, we walked out of the assembly. The act was out of concern that the interest of Tamil Nadu should be truly protected.”

On the last day of the assembly, massive picket protests were held by farmers in the 12 Cauvery irrigation basin districts, demanding the union government to intervene and implement the Supreme court directive. Thousands of farmers gathered in front of Union government offices, including banks and post offices, and staged pickets.

In Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Mayiladuthurai, Tiruchirappalli, Pudukottai, Cuddalore and Ariyalur, more than 2 lakh shops and commercial establishments were closed from 6 am to 6 pm. About 40,000 shops were closed in Thanjavur alone. Autos and private buses did not ply and educational institutions remained shut.

ON HARDSHIPS FACED BY MSME

A Special Call Attention motion was moved by AIADMK legislator P Thangamani and others on the hardships faced by MSMEs, particularly because of the electricity hikes.

Minister for MSMEs, TM Anbarasan on Tuesday informed the assembly that the government has decided not to charge peak hour tariff for low tension industries until installation of smart metres and reduce the network charge by 50% for rooftop solar generation for the MSMEs.

Additionally, on Monday Stalin announced that for businesspersons who have to pay tax, interest and penalty of less than Rs 50,000, the outstanding amount will be completely waived off. Similarly, he said that businessmen who have tax arrears between Rs 50,000 and Rs 10 lakh should pay 20 percent tax. He informed that 95,602 small traders will benefit from this decision of the government.

There are 2,11,607 pending cases on tax arrears by traders, which amounts to a tax balance of Rs. 25,000 crore due to the Tamil Nadu government. The number of merchants and business establishments involved in these is 1,42,569.

ON RELEASE OF MUSLIM PRISONERS

During the question hour on Tuesday a special calling attention motion was drawn by the main opposition party AIADMK and other members regarding the plight of Muslim prisoners.

Chief minister Stalin said a six-member committee, headed by Justice Athinathan, was constituted to consider the pleas of prisoners who have completed 20 years in jail, and elderly, terminally ill and differently abled prisoners. Out of the 264 recommended, 49 were selected for premature release on the occasion of the 115th birth anniversary of former Chief Minister C N Annadurai this year.

“Of the 49, 20 prisoners are Muslims. All of them will be released after the Governor gives his consent,” Stalin said.

Stalin additionally questioned the “special concern” expressed by former Chief Minister Palaniswami, wondering why the AIADMK, which was in power for 10 years, had turned a blind eye to the release of the Muslim prisoners. He also pointed out that the AIADMK blindly supported the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens.

AIADMK MLAS EVICTED

The AIADMK members were evicted from the assembly en-masse on Wednesday for raising their protest against the explanation given by Speaker Appavu regarding retaining expelled leader O Panneerselvam as deputy leader of opposition.

Palaniswami demanded the strength of the AIADMK be reduced from 66 to 63 as the party had expelled three MLAs, including Panneerselvam and two of his associates. Palaniswami told the press that they have written to the Speaker ten times about the matter, but the speaker refuses to accept our request