Area Sabha was supposed to function in urban areas on lines similar to gram sabhas functioning in rural areas.
The Area Sabha movement is dying a premature death, apparently due to lack of interest from the initiators of the movement. The movement is the brainchild of prominent member of Team Anna and winner of the Magsaysay Award, Arvind Kejriwal.
Area Sabha was supposed to function in urban areas on lines similar to gram sabhas functioning in rural areas. The movement, initiated by Kejriwal, was for passage of a strong Area Sabha Bill, which would create an assembly for citizens in their areas.
This, argued the activists, was a sure way of decentralisation of power and increasing public participation in governance. Kejriwal, through his New Delhi-based organisation, Public Causes Research Foundation (PCRF), had started a nationwide movement to garner public support to compel the government to pass a strong Area Sabha Bill.
As part of this movement, meetings were held in Pune. In one of the consultations, veteran Gandhian Anna Hazare was also present.
Citizen activists, elected representatives, civic officers and others deliberated on the pros and cons of such a bill and the final suggestions were submitted to the state government for its
consultation.
These consultations, had led to the formation of two area Sabhas — in Baner and Chinchwad.
Kejriwal had addressed the Area Sabha in Empire Estate in Chinchwad, residents of which were protesting against the proposed flyover passing through their residential housing society.
The Baner Area Sabha (BAS) had filed a public interest litigation (PIL) against the concretisation of Devnadi in Baner in the Bombay high court, which resulted in the work being stopped.
However, due to lack of any further initiatives from PCRF, the Area Sabha movement seems to have fizzled out in Pune.
Anupam Saraph, member of BAS, stated that in the last four years, the Area Sabha had met only four times. “We meet when required, but we were not able to take it forward,” he admitted.
Asked about the reason for the lack of initiatives from their side, Aswathi Muralidharan of PCRF cited the emergence of the Jan Lokpal Bill movement as the reason.
“Decentralisation of power is the ultimate weapon to wipe out corruption at the grass-roots level. However, as we got involved with the Jan Lokpal movement, we could not take the movement forward,” she said.
Saraph felt that the movement for a strong Area Sabha Bill should have got equal importance as the Jan Lokpal movement. “A strong Area Sabha is the absolute need of the hour. Only if power is devolved at the grass-roots level, true democracy would be resorted in the country,” he said.
Saraph opined that the public support generated for the Jan Lokpal Bill should also be used to press for a strong Area Sabha Bill.
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