ED searches: Ponmudy will come out clean soon, minister Muthusamy says

COIMBATORE: There is no prima facie evidence that Tamil Nadu higher education minister K Ponmudy was involved in any wrongdoings and he would come out clean soon, said minister for housing and urban development S Muthusamy in Coimbatore on Monday.

Muthusamy was responding to reporters’ questions on the searches by the Enforcement Directorate on the premises of Ponmudy.

He said, “Already a search was conducted targeting him and this is only a continuation. There is no prima facie evidence that he was involved in any wrongdoing. He will come out of it soon. Such searches will not demotivate anyone. They cannot deter us by such activities. They can only use it for attention diversion. We will keep doing our work irrespective of such developments around us.”

Answering a question that his department backtracking after recent announcements pertaining to changes in liquor sales, he said that the government had not backtracked on anything. He said that in a recent Chennai press meet he had only shared certain things such as introduction of tetra paks for liquor sales and 90 ml packs were only under consideration. But news was telecast in such a way that it gave the impression that the government was planning to implement them.

“Our first priority is to solve the issues faced by the labourers. We have conducted separate meetings with representatives of 18 trade bodies and are working on the issues raised by them. They will be solved at the earliest,” he said.

"The idea of 90 ml pack was heavily criticized. We have not implemented it. We share the idea with the media only to get feedback. We have not announced or implemented anything. The tetra pack idea is also under consideration only. We are open to suggestions,” he said.

“The idea of 90 ml was discussed only after a property survey which revealed that 40 out 100 people wait for about 30 minutes for a mate at the Tasmac shop to share the 180 ml bottle. There was no idea of opening shops at 7am. We were only concerned about people turning to spurious liquor as shops remain closed in the morning,” he added.

Shops which cause inconvenience to people are being closed as per the instruction from the chief minister. When new persons turn up to liquor shops to start consuming liquor, they will be identified and counselled. Similarly, elderly people who have health problems will be discouraged from consuming liquor. A campaign vehicle would be stationed near Tasmac in three to four districts to start with, he said.

Muthusamy laid the foundation stones for various new projects in Coimbatore and distributed welfare measures to beneficiaries of some schemes.



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