Madurai (Tamil Nadu), Aug 23 (PTI) Tamil Nadu Minister R Nirmal Kumar on Sunday defended the state government’s decision to provide cars and related allowances to all MLAs, saying Opposition legislators were rejecting the vehicles because they considered them a “small target”.
Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay had announced in the Assembly that every MLA would be provided a government car, along with a monthly allowance of Rs 75,000 towards fuel and maintenance and Rs 25,000 to meet the cost of an assistant.
“Those who spent Rs 30 crore or Rs 40 crore to become an MLA, for them a car is nothing. It is a small target for them,” Kumar claimed.
The Energy Resources and Law Minister defended the government’s decision to provide official vehicles and allowances to all 234 MLAs, entailing an estimated additional expenditure of nearly Rs 200 crore.
So far, DMK, PMK and CPI legislators have declined the government-provided vehicles and allowances, citing the state’s debt burden.
He insisted that official vehicles were necessary for newly elected representatives to tour their constituencies and understand public grievances firsthand.
Addressing reporters in Muthangulam village, the minister hit out at Opposition leaders who had opposed the provision of official cars, pointing out that several past and present MLAs owned multiple private vehicles but rarely visited interior villages.
“What is the point of having 10 or 15 private cars if an elected representative does not even set foot inside a village in their constituency for five or ten years?” the minister asked.
He also said that, contrary to the Opposition’s claims, his government was “not taking revenge” on Opposition MLAs and former ministers.
“People have already taken revenge on them by not voting for them. So, there is no need to take revenge against them. If there is corruption, if there is wrongdoing, definitely we’ll take action,” the minister said.
Kumar maintained that corruption cases and legal action were pursued strictly based on concrete evidence and court directions, citing past instances such as the transformer procurement scam, in which proceedings followed High Court directions.
The remarks came during the flagging off of a new government bus service to Muthangulam village in the Thiruppuvanam constituency.
He said the lack of public transport had forced more than 250 families to relocate in the past and led to girl students dropping out after Class 8 due to safety and travel concerns.
The minister further dismissed reports of an immediate visit by the CM to Madurai, saying no programme had been finalised during the ongoing Assembly session. PTI JR SSK
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.