24 May,2016 05:57 AM IST | | Agencies
After being sworn in Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister for the sixth time, Jayalalithaa signed a blitzkrieg of measures, all of which she promised in her poll manifesto
Jayalalithaa at her swearing-in ceremony
Chennai: Minutes after she was sworn in, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa yesterday ordered a slew of measures aimed at fulfilling her electoral promises including waiving crop loans of farmers and free units of electricity to consumers. She drove to the Secretariat and signed five files to fulfil five of her electoral promises, as mentioned in her party manifesto.
Fulfilling promises: Jayalalithaa at her swearing-in ceremony. Pics/PTI
Gold allocation rises
She also ordered increase in gold allocation for women beneficiaries from 4 to 8 grams under the Thallikku Thangam Scheme (Gold for Mangalsutra). From now on, beneficiaries will get eight grams of gold in addition to monetary assistance of Rs 25,000 to Rs 50,000.
Waiver of crop loans
She first signed a file, ordering waiver of crop loans upto March 31, 2016 payable to co-operative banks. The waiver would entail a financial burden of Rs 5,780 crore on her government.
Free power
100 units of free power for domestic electricity consumers with effect from yesterday in tune with the present tariff computation. It would entail an additional payout of Rs 1,607 crore as grant by the state government.
Liquor
She ordered closure of 500 Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation-run retail liquor outlets and cut short working hours of bars. With effect from today, the retail outlets and bars would function from noon to 10 pm.
