Puducherry celebrates 62nd merger day

Puducherry, Aug 16 (PTI) Puducherry Agriculture Minister 'Theni' C Djeacoumar hoisted the tricolour at a memorial in Kizhoor, a border village here on Friday, to mark the celebration of the 62nd 'De Jure merger day' of the union territory.

Speaker R Selvam, Deputy Speaker P Rajavelu, Government whip A K D Arumugham, Chief Secretary to the territorial government Sharat Chauhan participated.

Djeacoumar earlier inspected a guard of honour presented by the Puducherry police and also honoured freedom fighters of the union territory.

Puducherry and its outlying regions of Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam, which were the French establishments in India, merged 'de facto' in 1954 with Indian Union and after ratification of the Treaty of Cession inked between the then French and Indian governments in the French Parliament.

The merger took place as a direct sequel to the verdict given at the referendum held in Kizhoor village. Of the 178 representatives of the then Representative Council and also Mayors of the Municipalities in all the four regions who participated in the referendum, 170 representatives voted in support of merger with the Indian Union.

The 'de jure transfer' took place on August 16, 1962. In the wake of the transfer of power, all the Indian legislations, including the Representation of People Act, were extended to Puducherry.

Puducherry has been a union territory since 'de jure transfer' of power. Political parties have been making a plea for upgrading Puducherry into a full-fledged state so that elected governments could have the power to evolve and implement the various proposals without delay.

The territorial Assembly adopted resolutions on several occasions urging the Centre to ensure Puducherry became a state. PTI COR KH