Puducherry: Courting controversy yet again, Puducherry Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi on Saturday ordered that distribution of free rice to all those in the Union Territory whose villagers are not certified as free of garbage and open defecation by end of May. She withdrew the order late evening following all-round criticism slamming her decision as dictatorial and humiliating the poor.
In a Whatsup message in the evening, Ms Bedi said the poor and needy would be provided what they are entitled to. But she justified her morning order as “an expression of my serious intent and concern” on addressing the root causes of disease and illness in rural areas and compel performance of community and administrative leadership.
“To avoid misreading of this intention and in view of the forthcoming commitment made by the UT government that villages in Puducherry will achieve ODF by June end, I am happy to give them some more time. Therefore I am withholding my earlier communications,” she said. After visiting Mannadipet village, which she said was her 155th weekend trip to rural Puducherry, the Lt Governor said, “I am very anguished at the slow pace of rural sanitation. The last two years I have not seen local representatives and concerned public officials determined to make rural Puducherry clean within a time frame. I am sorry this cannot go on”.
She lashed out at the local representatives, community leaders and public officials for showing “no interest” in making rural Puducherry clean. She later wrote to CM V. Narayanasami informing him of her decision. CM Narayanasamy, needless to say, was not pleased.
