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Local bodies centres of political rivalry: Minister

Staff Reporter

`They were visualised as apolitical bodies'

PALAKKAD: Forest and Environment Minister A. Sujanapal has said that though the Local Self-Governments under the Panchayati Raj system were visualised as non-political bodies, it has become centres of political rivalry in the State.

He was inaugurating a seminar on the Panchayati Raj institutions in the State organised by the P.T. Bhaskara Panikkar Memorial Trust here on Sunday.

Malabar District Board

Mr. Sujanapal said that the Malabar District Board had contributed significantly towards the decentralisation of power during its functioning between 1954-'57 when it was headed by P.T. Bhaskara Panikkar.

However, such a political situation did not exist in Kerala now.

Mr. Sujanapal said that the local bodies should be above politics and focus on tackling the problems of the people.

The benefits of decentralisation are not reaching the public., he added.

M.P. Parameswaran, the former president of the Kerala Shasthra Sahithya Parishad, in his keynote address said that if local bodies did not ensure people's participation the Panchayati Raj system would fail. No attempts should be made to convert villages to towns and towns to cities. Villages and cities should co-exist.

The Panchayati Raj institutions should function as Local Self-Governments where people should be given the right to decide their lives, Mr. Parameswaran said.

People should have economic independence and the right to produce.

This will make the local bodies self-sufficient republics, he said.

Different parties now rule the panchayats. The party and its elected representatives are always at conflict.

Unless people exercise their political roles, their problems will not be solved, he added.

New provision needed

He said that there should be a provision to recall the elected representatives, as it is included in the Panchayati Raj institutions in some other States.

The meeting was addressed by Aryadan Shaukat, president, Nilambur panchayat; Indanur Gopi, secretary, P.T. Bhaskara Panikkar Memorial Trust; P.A. Vasudevan, economist; P.S. Panikkar, environmentalist; C. Rajagopal, social activist, among others.

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