There is a vast movement of protest from the public over the “laissez-faire policy of councils in rural areas. With the adoption of the empowerment to grant a building permit there are many things that will go against the will of country dwellers. First of all, the Council is not in a position to grant a development permit within a reasonable delay and they are moving towards having the right to issue a building permit. Besides legislation has to be passed to implement the Building Act. There are many rules and regulations that differ from the township areas to the so-called villages. There are also many amendments to be made to the Building Act itself. There can be no action against owners of houses built in a place outside the limits of a declared village. There are at present only 5-6 declared villages in the North. Other villages are not yet proclaimed and the authorities are thinking of imposing municipal laws without first giving municipal infrastructure.

The councilors must admit that there is much work to be done so as to cater for the villagers in all possible amenities that can facilitate their needs. In all towns there is a household connection service for the disposal of sewage but this is not available to country dwellers. People have to spend some Rs 10,000 - 15,000 to build a septic tank. We are not against the idea of municipalisation but before imposing municipal taxes people should know that they are getting value for these taxes. There are still big areas of development to be undertaken such as the construction of multi-purpose halls or centers in each village to meet the needs of the citizens for their activities and meeting places to improve the quality of life.

Fifteen years back the Central Government transferred all trading and business licence fees in favour of the District Councils through the Local Government Act keeping in mind that the Council will implement the necessary infrastructure as regards road and new public buildings to meet the needs of the inhabitants but very little or nothing has been done on its own initiative. We find that most projects are implemented by the N.D.U under the aegis of the Prime Minister’s Office.

As regards the issue of building permit, the country people are satisfied with the M.P.I authority in the sense that in 21 days their permits are delivered. But the building permit fee is Rs 1.31 per square metre, a cost affordable to the poorer classes of people and not a sort of profit-making taxation.

There are many ways and plans that have to be studied to eliminate discrepancies that are likely to lead to dissatisfaction among a large group of people. The change in status of the council cannot be allowed to jeopardize such a class of people. The planners can’t jump into the upliftment of a village to the status of a town without the local authority meeting the immediate needs within its own area. Each unit of local government has some important responsibilities for the welfare of its citizens and has to provide services such as road building and maintenance: regulation of building standards, public health, public parks, social activities and education. Once the Government has decided to de-centralize its authority that does not mean that the councilors may impose broad taxing powers and abuse of their authority.

Our last resort is to reiterate our petition to the Central Government to put aside the precarious measures that the adoption of municipal laws will surely bring about among the inhabitants of our villages . There are other areas where they can levy fees for buildings intended for commercial, industrial, boarding, and rental use but not for a family household.

<I>“The planners can’t jump into the upliftment of a village to the status of a town without the local authority meeting the immediate needs within its own area. Each unit of local government has some responsibilities for the welfare of its citizens.”</I>

<B>Ravin Sunkur</B>