Makkal Needhi Maiam president Kamal Haasan on Sunday said merely increasing the number of grama sabha meetings would not help if the resolutions passed there were not executed.
On National Panchayat Raj day, he virtually addressed his party cadres and media, and stressed on the importance of grama sabhas. Mr. Haasan acknowledged the announcement by the State government that the grama sabha count would be increased to six times a year and that the sitting fees of the ward members would see a five-fold increase.
However, he expressed concerns over streamlined execution and transparency and insisted that the minutes of every grama sabha meeting should be uploaded online for the common man to see.
A smaller State like Kerala was already paying out a sitting fee much higher than the one announced by the government. Paying a decent fee would make the ward members more accountable and duty conscious, Mr. Haasan pointed out.
“The role of opposition is not limited to just criticising whatever the ruling party says or does. It should laud anything that is proposed for the good of the people and criticise anything that is done for manipulative self-benefits,” he noted.
Taking a jibe at the general comments that MNM was acting as the B team of the BJP, Mr. Haasan said those who commented so were actually acting as BJP’s B team.
