Former Minister for Local Administration and CPI (M) leader Paloli Mohammed Kutty slammed the United Democratic Front government for dividing the Department of Local Administration.
Retrograde move
He called it a retrograde step and one aimed at sabotaging the process of decentralisation of administrative powers. He was speaking at the inauguration of a seminar on the ‘Division of the Department of Local Administration and its consequences,' organised here on Sunday by the Kerala Municipal and Corporation Staff Union.
The seminar was organised as part of the 44{+t}{+h} State conference of the union.
The UDF move was a setback to the process of development, he said as he claimed that MPs of the left parties were in the forefront of advocating the decentralisation of administrative powers envisaged by the Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992.
The latest move by the UDF government would only help concentrate powers in the hands of the bureaucracy, against the ideals of decentralisation of powers envisaged under the 73rd amendment to the Constitution, he said.
C. Ravindranath, MLA, was the moderator at the seminar. Mayor of Kozhikode Corporation A.K. Premajam and chairman of Moovattupuzha municipality U.R. Babu spoke.
