CASH DOLES

The refugees accommodated in various refugee camps in Tamil Nadu are given cash doles at the following rates as approved by the Government of India.

1.	Head of Family	Rs.200/-per month
2.	Each additional member aged 12 years and above	Rs.144/- per month
3.	First Child, less than 12 years of age	Rs. 90/- per month
4.	Each additional Child	Rs. 45/- per month

 

The annual expenditure on account of cash doles to the refugees in the camps is about Rupees one crore.

 

2. RICE AT SUBSIDISED RATES

 

Rice is supplied to the refugees accommodated in the refugee camps at subsidised rate of Paise 57 per Kilo-gram at the following scale as per Government of India's guidelines:

 

1. Adult 400 grams per day

2. Children

(Below 8 years) 200 grams per day

 

Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation is supplying the rice through the Fair-price shop network in the State. It receives from the Government the differential cost between the issue price and the procurement price. Approximately an expenditure of Rs.5.30 crores is incurred every year for this programme.

 

3. CLOTHING AND UTENSILS

 

Free supply of clothes and mats are made to the camp refugees at the scales prescribed by the Government of India. Blankets and utensils are supplied free of cost once in two years. The total expenditure on this account is around Rs.2.10 crores per annum.

 

4. MEDICAL ASSISTANCE

 

The refugees in the camps are provided with free medical facilities in the nearby Government Hospitals and Primary Health Centres.

 

5. EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES

 

The Government of Tamil Nadu is generous in providing educational opportunities to the children of refugees. The children of refugees are admitted in schools without production of transfer certificate from the schools last studied at in Sri Lanka and are allowed to continue their studies up to College level. The school going refugee children are provided with free uniforms, noon meals, bus passes, text-books and note-books. The refugee children are allowed to continue their studies anywhere in Tamil Nadu. Cash doles and other assistance meant for the students are handed over to their parents in the refugee camps.

 

 

Allocation of seats for Sri Lankan Refugee students in Professional / Technical Courses in Tamil Nadu are as follows:

 

 

6. REPATRIATION OF REFUGEES

 

In view of the recent developments in Sri Lanka, the prevailing mood in the refugee camps is in favour of returning to Sri Lanka. The State Government has been keenly watching the situation and is taking steps for a possible mass reverse flow. In the meanwhile, in individual cases, refugees who are willing to go back to Sri Lanka or to the country of their choice at their own cost, are issued with "Exit Permits" by the respective District Collectors.

 

2. EX-SERVICEMEN'S WELFARE

 

The Department of Ex-Servicemen's Welfare looks after the rehabilitation and resettlement of Ex-Servicemen and their dependants and the welfare of the families of Serving Defence Personnel in the State. All the welfare schemes are being implemented through the 25 District Offices. As on 28-2-2003, 151337 Ex-Servicemen/Widows have registered with the District Offices.

 

2. The following are the main activities of the department.

1. Providing Employment opportunities in Government and quasi Government Institutions.

2. Providing Self-Employment opportunities

3. Training facilities

4. Welfare Assistance

3. The Government provides ex-gratia Grant to the families of those killed in action and war disabled. Grants to Gallantry and Distinguished Service Awardees, War Service Incentive to parents who send their sons/daughters to the Armed Forces are also sanctioned by the Government. The Government of India reimburses 50% of the administrative expenditure of the Department of Ex-servicemen's Welfare.

 

4. The following two funds are maintained by the Directorate of Ex-servicemen's Welfare.

 

1.Tamil Nadu Ex-services Personnel Benevolent Fund.

2. The Amalgamated Fund.

During the year 2002-2003, 16929 Ex-servicemen/Dependants were benefitted from the Tamil Nadu Ex-services Personnel Benevolent Fund to the tune of Rs.6.83 crores; 1040 Ex-servicemen/dependants were benefitted from the Amalgamated Fund to the tune of Rs.25.45 lakhs.

 

5. For the first time in Tamil Nadu, the Government has sanctioned in the year 2001 cash in lieu of land to the recipients of the Gallantry Award on par with the guidelines suggested by the Government of India. Recognising the supreme sacrifice made by the Defence/Border Security Force Personnel in the line of duty the Government has ordered that their last rites may be conducted with full State honours befitting the status of the martyr. The Minister belonging to the district of the martyr, the Collector and the Superintendent of Police have been asked to pay their respects in person to the mortal remains of the martyr. An amount of Rs.5,00,000/- is sanctioned to the Next of Kin of the slain Defence /BSF Personnel in addition to providing compassionate appointment to the Next of Kin of the deceased as per the eligibility. During 2002-2003, 27 families of Defence/BSF Personnel who laid down their lives in action against Enemy Forces, Militants, Counter Insurgency Operations have been extended financial assistance from the Kargil Defence Personnel Relief Fund. So far, 26 families have been benefitted through this fund to the tune of Rs.126 lakhs. Further an exgratia of Rs.3 lakhs was sanctioned to one soldier who has been disabled in action.

 

6. The Government has reserved certain specified number of seats for the children of Ex-Servicemen and serving personnel in various educational institutions in the State. These include 6 seats in the Anna University and 100 seats in other Engineering Colleges for B.E. course, 6 seats for MBBS course, 60 seats for Nursing courses, 100 seats for diploma courses in Polytechnics, 6 seats for Undergraduate courses in each of the Arts and Science Colleges, 5% of the seats in Law Courses etc. On 29.8.2002, the Government also ordered for the first time a reservation of 5% of vacancies in Group 'C' posts in the State Government for Ex-Servicemen. The reservation of seats for the wards of Ex-servicemen for Teacher Training Course has been enhanced from 67 to 132, with effect from 2002 academic year. This Government has also waived in favour of the Ex-servicemen, the requirement of passing through physical and efficiency tests in selection to the post of police constable Grade-II. The upper age limit has also been increased to 45 years in the case of Ex-servicemen competing for police constable selection.

 

7. The Government has also reserved one seat in Tamil Pandit Course in Government College of Education, Orathanadu, Thanjavur District, for dependant of Ex-Servicemen, 2 seats each in Post-graduate courses in Arts & Science Colleges having up to 2 branches, and 3 seats each in Colleges having more than 2 branches have also been reserved by the Government for the benefit of Ex-services Personnel.

 

TEMPLE PROTECTION FORCE

 

A Temple Protection Force was formed in the year 1992 by employing Ex-servicemen on consolidated wages, in order to protect temples and to prevent theft of valuables and idols. So far 2668 Ex-servicemen have been employed in various temples who are paid a consolidated amount of Rs.1500/-p.m.

 

FLAG DAY COLLECTIONS

 

Tamil Nadu has been maintaining its lead in the Country in respect of Flag Day Collection since 1985. For the year 2001 a sum of Rs.6.44 crores has been collected against the target of Rs. 4.41 crores. For the year 2002, (for the period from 7.12.2002 to 6.12.2003) a sum of Rs.0.90 crores has been collected up to 20.03.2003 against the target of Rs.4.60 crores.

 

TAMIL NADU EX-SERVICEMEN CORPORATION LIMITED (TEXCO)

 

The Tamil Nadu Ex-Servicemen Corporation Limited (TEXCO) was formed on 28.01.1986 and registered under the Companies Act. It is a financially self supporting, profit earning organisation. The authorised and paid up share capital are Rs.50.00 lakhs and Rs.22.91 lakhs respectively.

The main objectives of TEXCO are to:-

* Provide necessary assistance in planning, formulating and executing various schemes for the welfare and economic uplift of Ex-servicemen belonging to Tamil Nadu.

 

* Carry on commercial activities as a Corporation.

TEXCO makes arrangements to send the registered Ex-servicemen for Security Services on contract basis mainly to the State and Central Government Organisations. Wages for the Ex-servicemen so sent for security and other duties are fixed by the Director General of Resettlement. TEXCO gets between 12 to 14 per cent service charges for these services, from these organizations. TEXCO has also undertaken the Paid Parking System at Southern Railway, Madurai with effect from 20.04.2002 with the condition of sharing the parking fee collection in the ratio of 50:50.

 

TEXCO is maintaining and operating the State owned 412 BELL Helicopter and CESSNA Air Craft. The expenditure on maintenance and management of the Aircraft and Helicopter is initially met by TEXCO and the same is got reimbursed from the Government of Tamil Nadu. Service Charges at the rate of 2% of the maintenance expenditure is paid to TEXCO.

 

3. CHIEF MINISTER’S SPECIAL CELL

 

 

The Chief Minister’s Special Cell formed with the laudable objective of redressing the grievances of the general public has rendered yeoman service to the aggrieved petitioners during the last 2 years. To achieve the objective, an I.A.S. Officer who has been designated as the Special Officer, has been authorised to correspond directly with any competent authority under the State Government dispensing with the usual channel of communication.

Petitions presented to the Hon’ble Chief Minister in Chennai and while on tour are sent to the concerned Secretariat Departments/Heads of Departments/Collectors/ Superintendents of Police for immediate action after entering the details in the computer. Hon’ble Chief Minister meets the public on all days of her visit to the Secretariat between 1.00 P.M. and 2.00 P.M. subject to other exigencies. Public are also free to give their petitions to the Chief Minister’s Special Cell on all working days and petitions can also be sent by post/fax/e-mail etc.

 

The Government issued orders sanctioning 10 posts of Social Workers/Counsellors for the Chief Minister’s Special Cell with effect from 24.05.2002. These qualified Counsellors give a personal hearing to the petitioners who are in distress and enlighten them about the welfare schemes of the Government and the procedure to be followed to avail of the benefits. At the enquiry counter of the Chief Minister’s Special Cell the status of the petition is furnished to the public after checking it in the computer.

 

Monitoring the progress of the disposal of the petitions is the critical part of the Grievance Redressal mechanism and to achieve this end, the Special Officer of the Chief Minister’s Special Cell holds periodical review meetings with the Nodal Officers of the Secretariat Departments/Heads of Departments and with the Special Deputy Collectors (Public Grievances Redressal Cell) of the Districts. During the year 2002 alone 4,13,235 petitions were received in the Chief Minister’s Special Cell, of which 3,96,679 (96%) had been disposed of so far.

 

Annual Awards in the form of Small Savings Certificates are given to three Special Deputy Collectors (Public Grievance Redressal Cell) who render effective and exemplary service for the redressal of public grievances and disposal of petitions.

 

First Prize	Indira Vikas Patra/NSC Certificate for Rs.10,000/- with Merit Certificate
Second Prize	Indira Vikas Patra/NSC Certificate for Rs.7,500/- with Merit Certificate
Third Prize	Indira Vikas Patra/NSC Certificate for Rs.5,000/- with Merit Certificate.

 

With a view to accord appreciative recognition to the Collectors who distinguished themselves in the prompt and proper disposal of the Chief Minister's Special Cell petitions, Hon’ble Chief Minister distributed Awards to the Collectors of Salem (96%), The Nilgiris (95%) and Theni (93%) for higher rate of disposal and to the Collectors of Chennai (68%), Kancheepuram (65%) and Salem (59%) for higher rate of compliance with requests, during the Conference of Collectors and Police Officers held in Chennai during November 2002.

Computerisation of the Chief Minister’s Special Cell was taken up for the first time in March 1993 during the previous tenure of the present Government and further modernisation has been taken up only now with the acquisition of latest hardware and software at a cost of Rs.23 lakhs which was sanctioned by the Hon’ble Chief Minister. With the newly acquired hardware the NIC has already started testing the software for the introduction of ‘Web enabled grievance redressal System’, which will enable the public to get access to the reply furnished to the petitioners by the Departments concerned through the web also, apart from getting reply by post. This will enable online communication among the Cell, the petitioners and the various Departments of the Government.

i. 11,235 cases have been sanctioned pensions under various categories like Old Age pension, Widow pension, Physically Handicapped pension, Freedom Fighters pension, Tamil Savants pension etc.

 

ii. Rs.2,60,70,335/- has been sanctioned by the Hon’ble Chief Minister to 1,049 downtrodden people living in indigent circumstances to meet the cost of life saving surgeries.

 

iii. 234 meritorious students who had secured admission in Professional colleges but were unable to join due to financial constraints have been extended a financial assistance of Rs.59 lakhs.

 

iv. Financial assistance of Rs.76,29,914/- has been sanctioned by the Hon’ble Chief Minister for extending assistance under various categories to 331 beneficiaries.

 

v. 5,644 land related matters have been redressed.

vi. Hon’ble Chief Minister sanctioned Rs.54,86,906/- to 5,163 physically handicapped persons towards the purchase of tools and implements.

vii. 9,786 cases requesting drinking water facilities, drainage, road facilities, electricity, street light etc. have been favourably redressed.

DETAILS OF DEMAND MOVED AND FUNDS SOUGHT FOR IN B.E. FOR 2003-2004

J JAYALALITHAA
CHIEF MINISTER