TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: Renowned ecologist and former member of the National Advisory Council, Prof Madhav Gadgil has termed the draft Khazan Land Board Bill, as anti-democratic and moves in the direction of taking powers away from the grass root institutions and opined that it should be opposed.
Speaking to Herald, Dr Gadgil, who was the chairman of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel, said that any move to weaken the powers of the local bodies should be opposed.
“We must move in the direction of empowerment of local bodies and gram sabhas. That’s why we have the 73rd and 74th amendment [to the Constitution]. To reduce their (local bodies) powers and centralise [powers] is against the idea of democracy. It has to be opposed,” Dr Gadgil said.
The government through the Water Resources Department has published the draft Khazan Land Development Board Act, and had invited suggestions from the people. No sooner it was notified, organisations such as Council for Social Justice and Peace, Goan Gaunkary Movement, and Pilerne Citizens Forum had opposed the bill saying that in its present form, it is a move to give the Board, powers to initiate development on the eco-sensitive lands.
Gadgil, however, did not comment on specific provisions of the bill or on the ecological consequences of the bill, if passed in its present form.
“We must move towards decentralisation of democracy [and] towards empowering people’s institutions. Goa is special in that sense, as it ensure survival of a good form of local governance. There should be no move to weaken the institutions. If there is any move it should be to strengthen them in various ways,” Gadgil said.
The Pilerne Citizens Forum along with its members had called on Dr Gadgil, who is currently in the state seeking his guidance on how to move forward with the issue of the Khazan Land Development Board.
The comments of Dr Gadgil will be music to the ears of the Goan Gaunkary Movement, which had warned the government not to enact any laws that infringe upon the rights of the Comunidades, which are autonomous institutions whose rights are guaranteed under the Indian Constitution.
