Articles by "Kiran Bedi"
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Puducherry, Sep 27: Puducherry Lt Governor Kiran Bedi has blamed lack of government scrutiny and precaution for the losses suffered by public sector undertakings and societies in the union territory.

Identifying the reasons for the PSUs's losses after a deep review of sanction of grants to them, she said consequently "loss over loss was glossed over and objections from auditors were not complied with."

With the leadership of these undertakings being both "political and bureaucratic both are responsible for the state of affairs over the years," she said in a release here Wednesday.

The review revealed that the government had been 'callously' dealing with the release and sanction of grants.

She said the files relating to the sanction of grant in aid had not been earlier placed before the office of the Lt Governor.

"In the past we have been releasing funds over the years without due precaution and scrutiny... People entered the undertakings for employment for salaries through irregular means and through back-door," Bedi said.

Money sanctioned for specific purposes were breached and diverted to pay salaries and without any departmental policy.

The PSUs and societies deviated from their core functions and went into businesses without having core competences resulting in "massive losses and debts," she added.

The Puducherry government had consequently been reeling under "a debt" and had not been able to pay salaries to duly recruited employees on time, Bedi said.

She stressed that public servants must refrain from being spectators and should take responsibility for the administration they have chosen to be in.

"If the officers wanted their pensions safe they should stop ignoring what is irregular," she said asking the officers to go by the law and the rules while sanctioning the grants and record their observations in the files.
 (PTI)


Puducherry, Aug 20: The AIADMK in Puducherry today urged the territorial government to immediately convene a special Assembly session and bring in a legislation to ensure 50 percent quota for government sponsored students in the private medical colleges in the Union Territory.

AIADMK legislature wing leader AAnbalagan told reporters here that presently the private medical colleges including deemed-to-be-universities were denying seats at 50 percent of quota for the local students.

"Seat sharing is done according to whims and fancies of the managements and most of the time the local students were not getting admission.

Seats are sold away for exorbitant prices to students from distant States," he alleged

There should be a law to curb this unjust and unfair practice on the part of the managements," he said.

Charging the government with 'keeping mum' on the issue, Anbalagan said parents and students associations should also come forward to press the rights of the students.

The AIADMK leader wanted a legislation to be enacted to ensure fifty percent quota for government sponsored students in private medical colleges.

"When the government could bring in a resolution to divest the nominated legislators of their right to vote on the floor of the House as was done in the recent budget session, there is no reason why a legislation on medical college admission issue could not be brought in," Anbalagan said.

He also sought the intervention of Lt Governor Kiran Bedi to do justice to the students.
 (PTI)

Puducherry, Aug 11: Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy has charged Lt Governor Kiran Bedi with "violating the spirit of oath of secrecy"by "divulging all secret official communications" through social media and said it was "unbecoming" of a constitutional authority.

In his letter to Bedi yesterday, he pointed out that though as an Administrator she had taken oath of office and secrecy, she has been issuing every day all official "secret communications violating the oath of secrecy which was unbecoming of a constitutional authority."

A copy of his letter was distributed to reporters here today.

Recalling his meeting with Bedi where he had apprised her of Lt Governor's powers, he said, "You brushed aside whatever I told you about the constitutional powers of the elected government."

Noting that the Lt Governor was issuing day in and day out orders without authority which only confused the officers, the Chief Minister claimed that they (officials) "need not obey the orders of the Lt Governor and can ignore them."

Narayanasamy, whose government is locked in a running battle with Bedi on various issues in the past two years, said he was "ready to cooperate with the Lt Governor" if she acted on the aid and advice of Council of Ministers.

"I am willing to cooperate with you if you do no not block welfare schemes and if you act within the Constitution and the law book," the Chief Minister said in his letter. 
(PTI)


Puducherry, Jul 7 : 
 Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy today said it is not feasible to hold simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies.

"Simultaneous polls are not feasible. I have written letters to the Law Commission and Home Ministry stating my stand on the subject," he told reporters here.

The idea to conduct simultaneous elections is not an acceptable proposition, he said.

He said the Law Commission has convened a two-day meeting with all national and state political parties to discuss its feasibility.

The need for holding simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies has been voiced for several years now. More recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also voiced his support to the idea.

The chief minister said he had apprised Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu, who was on a day-long visit to Puducherry yesterday, of the various grievances of the territorial government.

Narayanasamy said he had sought his intervention to procure sufficient funds for Puducherry and also placed before him the plea that it be granted "statehood with special category status".

He said he also took up various other issues such as -- including Puducherry in the Fifteenth Finance Commission, waiver of loans and 25 per cent quota of seats in UG and PG courses in Pondicherry University.

The chief minister said as the Vice President is the chancellor of the central university here, he had requested him to establish an institute of environment sciences and a department for skill development among others.

"The Vice-President assured me that he would consider the plea to include Puducherry as one of the constituent regions of the Finance Commission," he added.

Naidu had also assured him that he would soon convene a meeting with the Vice-Chancellor of the university to meet all the demands in so far as university-related subjects were concerned, Narayanasamy said.

He reiterated that Lt Governor Kiran Bedi "does not have any authority to deny approval to any of the decisions the government took".

The chief minister said the recent verdict of the Supreme Court on the power tussle between the Lt Governor of Delhi and the elected government there was applicable to the Puducherry, too.

"The verdict is totally applicable to Puducherry also and this point has been repeatedly pointed out leaving no room for any doubt and wrong understanding," he said.

The Lt Governor here "cannnot reject" any of the cabinet decisions and could only seek clarification for any part of the decisions, Narayanasamy asserted.

Meanwhile, the government reimbursed students from the union territory who took the recent NEET examination in centres in other states.

Narayanasamy said 304 students from Puducherry, who appeared for NEET in other states and incurred expenditure for travel and boarding, were reimbursed by the government.PTI



Puducherry, May 10: Reacting to Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy’s demand that she should resign on moral grounds, Lt.Governor Kiran Bedi on Thursday said the former has to understand that 'one resigns from a job and not mission'.
In a whatsapp message to media, Ms Bedi said 'she is here on a mission of Prosperous Puducherry', Swachh Puducherry, Water Rich Puducherry, Financially secure Puducherry, Responsive Puducherry and Skilled Puducherry'.
If she was not on a mission, why should she accompany with Raj Nivas team and officers every weekend by visiting rural areas in need of resources and paying attention on such as drains, ponds or rivers or bed dams, the Lt Governor asked.
Whatever is being done is because it is the right thing to do, she said, adding, in fact we need to do much more and that will happen if the Chief Minister join in. 
“So instead of asking me to stop doing, join me if you love Puducherry and become part of Mission prosperous Puducherry” Ms Bedi said. UNI


Puducherry, Nov 20: Instead of freebies, the biggest welfare scheme the people of Puducherry need is promotion and practice of self-reliance for their long term benefit, Lt.Governor Kiran Bedi said today. 
At a time when the Chief Minister and his Cabinet colleagues were accusing Ms Bedi of not clearing files pertaining to schemes such as free rice, free sugar, free cloth, waiver of crop loan among others, the Lt Governor in her Whatsapp message here said that ‘self-reliance’means gradually shifting from dependence on basic minimums, to being self-skilled and healthy to generate for themselves to be self-reliant. It is the duty of the government of the day to provide and link them with easy access to assured health service, skill development centers, micro credit for starting small entrepreneurship, Ms Bedi said and added that this is abundantly available for rural and urban areas from NABARD and Government of India centrally sponsored schemes. These are currently being underutilized, she added. Having an elected Panchayat as mandated by the constitution and financially resourced is what Puducherry people need the most. Panchayat elections were not held here nearly for a decade ....People need to self-govern their villages and localities and this is what they ought to demand to their political masters. Unfortunately they are not being made aware of it, the LG said. This is what will empower them in the long run and make them self-reliant, Ms Bedi said, adding that had she known how to speak Tamil, she would have explained to them their rights directly. UNI 

Puducherry, Nov 7: Justifying the action of Lt Governor Kiran Bedi keeping in abeyance the order of chief secretary extending the tenure of seven legislators as chairpersons of the government boards and corporations, Puducherry unit of the BJP on Tuesday said that she was making effort to save the tax money of the public.
In a statement here, BJP state president V Saminathan, MLA (nominated), said that since the tax money of the people was ‘wasted’ on the chairpersons for boards and corporations running in heavy loss, Dr Bedi refused to extend their tenure. However, chief secretary Manoj Parida following wrong directions issued orders extending their tenure. The Lt Governor on Monday night kept that order in abeyance stating that she is the competent authority to issue such an order and the order of the chief secretary is being kept in abeyance till she issues orders. Reiterating that by extending the tenure of the chairpersons for the institutions running in heavy loss, both the government money as well as the taxpayers' money is being wasted.  Mr Saminathan called up on the public to come forward to agitate against the appointment of chairpersons to boards and corporations at a time when employees of the public sector undertakings are without salary for several years.  He said the BJP would fully support such an agitation. Moreover, it is not fair to appoint legislators as chairpersons for boards and corporations, he added. He also urged the Lt Governor to conduct an inquiry into the loss incurred by the corporations/boards in the past, holding the chairpersons responsible for the loss. UNI

Puducherry, Nov 1: Puducherry Lt Governor Kiran Bedi, a former IPS officer, has greeted Neelamani Raju on becoming the first woman police chief for the Karnataka police force.
In her twitter message, Ms Bedi wished Nellamani Raju all strength to infuse a strong dose of professional policing and to provide caring leadership to all ranks.
Nellamani Raju is the first woman police official to head the Karnataka police force as its Director General and Inspector General. UNI


Puducherry, Aug 4 : Puducherry Lt Governor today said it is ‘unfortunate' that the Speaker is not allotting seats for the nominated members of the Puducherry Assembly. Talking to mediapersons after flagging off an ocean sailing expedition by the National Cadets Corps, Dr Bedi said the Union Government had nominated three members to the territorial Assembly as per the law and it is ‘unfortunate’ that the speaker is not allotting seats for them in the house. 'The Speaker should have averted this,' she said, adding that an amicable settlement to the issue should be found. Ms Bedi said the people need much awareness on keeping Puducherry clean, adding that plastic and other wastes are being thrown into the streets.This waste blocks drainage leading to health hazards, she said and added that crores of people's money is being wasted to clean this menace. If the people keep the city clean, then the money could be used for the education of children. She said she is inspecting rural schools here and added that all steps would be taken to provide quality education to the students. UNI


Puducherry, Jul 26  As many as 40 farmers of Puducherry today left for New Delhi to organize agitation against Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi at Jantar Mantar for not approving the file pertaining to the waiver of crop loans. Soon after the Congress came to power in the union territory, it had initiated steps to fulfill it’s promises including the waiver of the crop loans in cooperative banks. After a cabinet decision a file in this regard was forwarded to the Lt.Governor. However, Dr.Bedi reportedly failed to sign the file. The agitation by the farmers to waive off their loans in view of the drought also proved futile. Agitated over this, the farmers here had decided to organize an agitation in the capital against the Lt.Governor as done by the Tamil Nadu farmers a few months back and 40 of them led by farmers Federation representative Senthil Kumar left for New Delhi from Puducherry Railway Station. The farmers who will be reaching the capital on July 28 will organize an agitation at Jantar Mantar to condemn the Lt. Governor and demanding her immediate re-call. UNI