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Call to restructure People’s Plan

PALAKKAD: Janata Dal(S) State president M.P. Veerendrakumar, MP, has asked the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government to have a rethink on the implementation of the People’s Plan programme in the State.

Talking to The Hindu here on Wednesday, he said that “the present form of People’s Plan is ineffective and requires total restructuring, backed with proper arrangements for financing the projects. When responsibilities are delegated downwards to the local self-governments (LSGs), it should be matched with devolution of resources also to execute the responsibilities.”

Mr. Veerendrakumar stressed that financial decentralisation should go with decentralisation of power. The LSGs should not be thrown to the mercy of the World Bank or the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for funds, since such funds come with strings, that will ultimately stultify the effectiveness of the LSGs. The foreign funding agencies have many hidden agendas that go against native or local development interests.

The local bodies must be able to regulate multinational corporations or international financial institutions from interfering in local issues and also from pirating local resources. This is evidenced from the instance of Pepsi Cola in Pudussery and Coca Cola in Plachimada. They can bring these companies by giving licence for operation but when they found its ill-effects, they cannot send them back, he said.

The People’s Plan in the present form needs rethinking, the Janata Dal (S) leader said.

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