Chennai, April 24 (BPNS)

Superstar of South Indian cinema and President of Makkal Needhi Maiam, Kamal Haasan has said that merely increasing the number of grama sabha meetings will not help if the resolutions passed in these meetings were not executed.

Kamal Haasan was addressing the party cadres and media on the National Panchayat Raj day and said that the grama sabhas are very important for a healthy democracy. The superstar turned politician acknowledged the government increasing the number of grama sabha meetings to six times a year. He also said that the increase in the sitting fee of elected ward members to five times was a great move by the state government. He however pointed out that a smaller state like Kerala was already paying out a much higher sitting fee than what was announced now by the Tamil Nadu government.

The veteran actor said that paying a higher sitting fee would make the elected ward members more accountable and duty-bound.

The MNM president said that the minutes of the grama sabha meetings must be uploaded online for the common man to see and expressed concerns over streamlined execution and transparency in the affairs of the grama sabha.

 He said that the role of the opposition was not for criticizing whatever the ruling party says or does and instead should support what was good for the public. Kamal Haasan said that the opposition must also harshly criticize the ruling front if they were doing something manipulative against the interests of the society and the people of the state.