Hemant Soren govt should make public the PESA rules proposal: Babulal Marandi

Ranchi, Dec 27 (PTI) Leader of Opposition in Jharkhand Assembly Babulal Marandi on Saturday demanded the publication of the Panchayat Extension of Scheduled Areas (PESA) rules proposal in the public domain.

Marandi, also the BJP Jharkhand unit president, was addressing reporters here after an organisational meeting, during which he demanded that the state government immediately make public the passed PESA rules, so that the people can be saved from confusion and misinformation.

The Jharkhand Cabinet on Tuesday approved the rules under the PESA Act.

"This clearly shows that the state government is hiding something from the public. On the one hand, the government is patting itself on the back for passing the PESA proposal and getting it widely welcomed, but on the other hand, it is shying away from revealing what exactly is in that proposal," he said.

Marandi said that the very society for which this PESA rule is meant — whose traditions, customs, rituals, and governance systems it relates to — does not even know the real situation. Whether it is the public or the people's representatives, everyone is relying only on news published in the media for information.

The LoP also said that municipal elections should be held on a party basis so that workers who serve the public through various parties can become people's representatives and help the people more actively within the framework of the Constitution.

He said that non-party (independent) elections encourage muscle and money power, which is not good for clean democracy.

Meanwhile, former chief minister Arjun Munda also said that the non-publication of the PESA proposal after it was passed is unfortunate. The PESA rules are based on customary traditions and systems in the notified areas. They protect and promote the ancient traditional good governance and self-governance systems, he said.

Munda also demanded that the proposal passed by the state cabinet be made public in the public domain.

Laxmikant Vajpayee, BJP state in-charge and MP, said that discussions were held in the meeting on organisational matters and upcoming programmes. PTI RPS RPS RG