PMK promises higher procurement price for green tea

Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), if voted to power, would provide a higher procurement price for tea, said the party leader S. Ramadoss in Ooty on Sunday.

Talking to reporters ahead of a public meeting, he said as per the recommendations of the agriculture scientist M.S. Swaminathan, the PMK would provide 50 per cent more than the production cost.

In the case of man-animal conflict, the party would provide Rs. 10 lakh in compensation to the kin of those killed.

Campaigning for candidates Palraj (Udhagamandalam), Senthilkumar (Coonoor) and Murugesh (Gudalur), Mr. Ramadoss said that the DMK had copied 42 schemes/promises the PMK had mentioned in its manifesto and the AIADMK had lifted 29.

This showed that the two parties were bereft of ideas and called them for an open debate on the manifesto.

The PMK would strive to improve the quality of education and health care in the State.

Criticising the AIADMK manifesto for relying on freebies, he said that a rough calculation suggested that the two-wheeler subsidy alone would cost the State Rs. 73,500 crore and mobile phone and set top box subsidies Rs. 4,000 crore.

The schemes, if implemented, would further burden the State which already had a debt of Rs. 4.48 lakh crore. That translated to Rs. 62,000 debt on each person in the State. This would go up to Rs. 7 lakh crore in the next five years, he added.

Mr. Ramadoss predicted that the PMK would win over 200 seats as a silent revolution was under way among voters.

‘Voters not ready to get cheated

Later speaking at a public meeting at Kavundampalayam in Coimbatore, Mr. Ramadoss said that however much the parties were ready to bribe the voters, they were not ready to get cheated. The women voters, particularly, were not ready to take money or buy the AIADMK’s or DMK’s argument on prohibition.

The voters were very clear on the type of government and the Chief Minister they wanted. They were ready to vote for the PMK and elect Anbumani Ramadoss the Chief Minister. But media owners wanted to confuse the voters.

By siding with the AIADMK and DMK leadership, they were trying project that either this or that party would win. In the name of opinion polls, they were manufacturing opinion and trying impose theirs on the people, he said.

In Coimbatore, industrialists and owners of small and medium enterprises suffered for want of adequate power. They were migrating to neighbouring states because of the poor policies of the AIADMK government. This had also resulted in unemployment, Mr. Ramadoss said and sought votes for his party for a better Tamil Nadu.

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