Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Friday blamed the previous AIADMK government for providing wrong information to the Supreme Court and the Union government by under-reporting deaths due to road accidents.
Responding to Leader of the Opposition Edappadi K. Palaniswami’s criticism, made on Thursday regarding the absence of data on road accident deaths in a particular policy note, Mr. Stalin, in his reply during the discussion on budgetary demands for his departments, said the information had been provided in the policy note of “Home-Transport” Department. According to him, the present government had furnished the correct data unlike the previous AIADMK government. The number of deaths had come down to 17,884 in 2022 from 18,129 in 2021. He said owing to a number of initiatives taken by the government, especially his field inspections, the number of crimes had reduced noticeably. For instance, compared to the first quarter of 2022, murder cases had come down by 13% and dacoity and theft cases reduced by 18% in the first quarter of 2023.
He said the number of cases may have increased in some categories due to more people coming forward to file complaints, owing to humanitarian approach of the police, appointment of receptionists in police stations and increased awareness created by the police. However, unlike the previous government, the cases were immediately registered and solved, he said. Though there may be some shortcomings in the functioning of the police, they were swiftly being rectified, he said.
He accused Mr. Palaniswami of making contradictory statements regarding the Kodanad estate-dacoity-cum-murder case. Referring to the statement that his party would demand CBI investigation in the case, Mr. Stalin said Mr. Palaniswami had expressed approval for fresh investigation by the CB-CID and later questioned further investigation into the case. “Why this contradiction? Why this stumbling?” he asked, adding that the present government need not have had to investigate had the previous government had cracked it.
Referring to Mr. Palaniswami’s statement regarding the anti-Sterlite protest in Thoothukudi in 2018, Mr. Stalin asked why Mr. Palaniswami was still hesitant to reveal who gave the orders to the police to fire at protesters who were carrying out their movement peacefully for 100 days.
In contrast, under the present government, he said the manner in which the police handled the violence following the death of a schoolgirl in Kallakurichi district was an example of how to skillfully and responsibly handle a people’s protest without any deaths.