Centre mulls nomination to civic bodies
From CK Nayak
NEW DELHI: Municipal elections, which could not be held in the State in the last four decades, might not become a reality soon. The Centre has agreed to positively consider the proposal of nomination of members to the urban civic bodies by the traditional institutions since they have been opposing the polls, Minister for Urban Affairs Ampareen Lyngdooh said on Tuesday.
Talking to The Shillong Times before her departure to the State, Amapreen said the Centre after marathon talks and cajoling has agreed that the ward members of the municipality boards could be nominated and not elected, realising the stark ground realities.
Considering their opposition the government would like to leave the nomination process to the traditional bodies in Khasi Hills, Garo Hills and Jaintia Hills with mutually accepted reform process and quota and criteria for tribals and women.
“I urged the Ministry to delink elections with the release of funds for the ongoing projects to which they have agreed,” Ampareen said. This is a huge relief to the harried State Government which is losing out on crores of Central funds for not being able to hold the highly sensitive municipal elections, she added.
But at the same time the State Government will continue to thrive to achieve the remaining reforms within the Mission period, the Minister assured. The reforms — mandatory and optional — are being implemented with right earnest by the State Government, she added.
The State is losing mainly in the flagship programme of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) which was launched in 2005 stipulating implementation of reforms agenda consisting of 13 mandatory reforms and 10 optional reforms, both at the State and the Local Body level. Some of the reform agendas are complex issues for Meghalaya due to the overlaps with the provisions of the 6th Schedule to the Constitution of India, she pointed out.
“I and officers of the Government have deliberated on these issues with the officials of the Ministry of Urban Development particularly on the implementation of the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act (CAA) which is not applicable to the tribal areas as defined in Article 244 of the Constitution nearly covering the entire State,” she said. But at the same time the State Government agreed to make suitable amendments in the Municipal Act to blend the spirit of the 74th CAA suitable to the local conditions prevailing in the State.
“The State Government is keenly pursuing to achieve the reforms agenda but due to extraneous circumstances, reforms such as holding of municipal elections could not be achieved so far,” she said adding “Efforts made by the State Government in implementation of these reforms are on.”
The recent cabinet decision to give 80 per cent reservation to the Scheduled Tribes in the municipality and 33 per cent representation to women has also triggered hope for a solution eluding the hill state, Ampareen said.
Since 1967, attempt to hold elections to municipality has failed because of opposition from local pressure groups and the village headmen who feared that the very concept of an elected municipality will erode the powers and functions of the traditional institutions.
“Now since they themselves will elect or nominate to the wards through their existing democratic system there should not be any problem anymore,” she added.
Ampareen pointed out that Meghalaya being a tribal state has a robust democratic system of governance like Dollois and Nokmas in Jaintia Hills and the Garo Hills and Dorbars in Khasi Hills and follow own election system. These traditional bodies have administrative and welfare functions bestowed by tradition and are similar to panchayats in other states, she added.