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Shillong, Sept. 5: The select committee on the Meghalaya Community Participation Bill, 2011 has decided that the bill should be kept on hold for further examination as stakeholders were required to be further enlightened about the bill.
The committee, headed by urban affairs minister Ampareen Lyngdoh, placed its report before the Assembly on the first day of the autumn session, which commenced today.
The government had earlier stated that the bill was required to improve municipal administration in the urban areas of the state.
However, the bill received opposition from several quarters, especially the traditional bodies and social organisations. The traditional bodies felt that the bill, if made into a law, would usurp the powers of the traditional system of governance in the state.
The bill was introduced in the Assembly on March 16, 2011 by the then municipal administration minister Prestone Tynsong. It was then referred to a select committee consisting of seven legislators. The committee consulted various stakeholders like NGOs and traditional institutions throughout the state.
“The committee observed that despite its sincere efforts to make the people of the state understand the importance of the Meghalaya Community Participation Bill, it is of the impression that the public needs to be further enlightened and clarified certain doubts and reservations regarding this bill in its present form. Therefore, the committee decided to keep the bill in abeyance for further examination,” Ampareen noted in the report.
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