Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) president Kamal Haasan on Monday met Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary Irai Anbu and submitted a petition urging the government to institute Area Sabha and Ward Committee in urban local bodies.
The Tamil Nadu government passed the Tamil Nadu Municipal Laws (Amendment) Act 2010, which paves way for Area Sabha and Ward Committee to be instituted for participative democracy in Corporation and Municipalities, the petition said. It also noted that the amendment has not been implemented and the rules are yet to be formed and notified. Almost half of Tamil Nadu’s population lives in urban local bodies and they are being denied participative democracy, it added.
The amendment recommends Area Sabha and Ward Committee only for Corporations and Municipalities. Town panchayat has been excluded from this amendment. We request the Tamil Nadu government to address this exclusion, the petition said.
Our neighbouring States like Kerala and Karnataka have been successfully implementing Area Sabha and Ward Committee and places like Faridabad in Haryana and Jaipur in Rajastan are in the process of implementation, it said. Local bodies that function from the taxpayers’ money should have a better participative democracy, which is the foundational belief of MNM, Mr. Haasan said.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, he said MNM believes in peaceful protest and not in blocking traffic. “Our job is to make the government function,” he said.
Earlier, Mr. Haasan hoisted the party flag at the headquarters in Alwarpet to mark the beginning of the fifth year of MNM’s formation. Speaking at the event, he said members who had quit the party and joined other parties were removed by the high command itself. MNM did not suit their commercial interests and hence they left. Now they are part of organisations that better suit their commercial interests, he said.
