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Panchayats want maintenance of tanks under their purview

PUDUCHERRY: The Federation of Puducherry State Village Panchayat Presidents has urged the government to entrust the task of protecting and maintaining the tanks in the Union Territory to panchayats.

The federation, in a release here on Sunday, said that there were 84 lakes including smaller and medium ones in Puducherry and Karaikal regions. The Public Works Department had been asked to rehabilitate these waterbodies under the Tanks Rehabilitation Project of Puducherry, it recalled.

As elections to the local bodies had not been held for four decades in the Union Territory, the task had been entrusted to the Tank Associations and the Puducherry Water Resources Federation, the release pointed out.

The government should have handed over the responsibility of maintaining tanks to the local bodies after the election of the two-tier Panchayati Raj institutions in the two regions in June 2006, it said, adding that the process had been delayed by the administration.

The federation urged the government to immediately transfer the responsibility to the panchayats with a view to ensuring sustained growth of agriculture by identifying water resources, desilting the tanks and storing water. The move would go a long way in safeguarding the people and the bio-diversity from natural calamities such as earthquake, it said. It also called for dissolution of the Tank Associations and the Water Resources Federation.

Leader of the Pattali Makkal Katchi in Parliament M. Ramadass, in a statement, urged the government to take immediate steps to devolve powers to the local bodies as per the Constitution. He also wanted the government to earmark responsibilities to the local bodies as recommended by the Second and Third Finance Commissions and the Ramanathan Committee.

Mr.Ramadass charged the Puducherry government with failing to initiate steps to entrust 29 tasks, including development of farm sector, land development, irrigation, animal husbandry, fisheries and health, to the panchayats and 18 responsibilities such as education, health and urban development to the municipalities. The government had also failed to honour the Memorandum of Understanding reached with the Union Panchayati Raj Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar, he said. The Chief Minister, who had been demanding statehood and more powers for Puducherry, should explain why he had not come forward to devolve powers to the local bodies and provide adequate personnel to them, he said.

The conference of the local body representatives held in New Delhi recently also stressed the need for strengthening the democratic institutions at the grassroots-level to ensure the development of States and the nation.

Mr.Ramadass said he had highlighted the demands relating to devolution of powers to the local bodies during his meetings with the Lieutenant Governor and the Chief Secretary.

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