Minister for Local Self-Governments M.V. Govindan tabled four Bills on the first day of the Assembly session on Monday. The Minister presented the Kerala Employment Guarantee Workers’ Welfare Fund Bill, the Kerala Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Bill, the Kerala Town and Country Planning (Amendment) Bill, and the Kerala Municipality (Amendment) Bill.
The Employment Guarantee Workers’ Welfare Fund Bill, meant to replace the Ordinance which came into effect earlier this year, is aimed at providing pension, medical assistance, educational aid for children, and other benefits to the MGNREGS and Ayyankali Employment Guarantee Scheme workers. Pension will be provided for those workers who have completed 60 years and have paid their contributions continuously till that age. If a member passes away, the family will get the financial aid. Those between the age of 18 and 55 can register for membership.
Delay in master plans
The Kerala Town and Country Planning (Amendment) Bill aims at bringing about wide-ranging amendments to the existing Act which was passed in 2016, after combining three Acts related to town planning. The amended Bill provides for State-level, district-level and local body-level spatial plans, in addition to the existing local body-level master plans. The amendments are done in such a way as to cut down the delay in preparation of the master plans of various local self-governments and for better planning in urban areas to withstand natural disasters and frequent flood events, said Mr. Govindan.
He said some local bodies had been lax in enacting master plans, due to which some areas have lagged behind in development. So, the amendments have incorporated clauses by which the State government can ask the District Planning Committee to clear the master plan in case of laxity by local bodies. Special area plans will be prepared for ecologically fragile areas and heritage zones.
Building rules change
The Kerala Municipality (Amendment) Bill and the Kerala Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Bill, to replace Ordinances enacted last year, incorporate amendments regarding timely conduct of local body elections and changes in the building rules to reduce the issues faced by common people in getting clearance for building construction in smaller areas and to meet ease of doing business requirements.
