The Hindu            24.10.2011

Toddy movement demands devolution of powers to local bodies

Tamil Nadu Toddy Movement has urged the State Government to devolve more powers to the local bodies.

In a release, the Movement's leader C. Nallasamy said that the Government should devolve powers of 29 departments to the local bodies to make them self sufficient. He pointed out that this was what had been enshrined in the Panchayat Raj Act, brought in through the 73 {+r} {+d} Constitutional Amendment.

He also urged the State Government to make public the report of the Justice K.P. Sivasubramaniam Committee that went into the issue of removal of ban on toddy tapping. He recalled the promise Jayalalithaa made in Pollachi during her 2011 Assembly campaign in this regard. His other demands included a relook at implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Generation Scheme during the cultivation season.