Chapter 2 - Kerala Govt Logo

Environmental Assessment ReportKerala Local Government Strengthening ProjectThe Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) in Government of India has brought out variousacts, rules, notifications and guidelines on environmental protection and conservation with aview to have uniform legislation and regulations for the country as a whole. Despite the factthat the environmental issues differ from place to place as well as from state to state, thesestatutes empower the State Governments or its concerned agencies to evolve stringentmeasures for the protection of environment, but restrain them from relaxing the measures. Inother words, the environmental regulations brought out by the MoEF stipulate the minimumstandards and measures that are required to protect our environment.The various environmental laws and regulations, discussed in earlier chapter, give lot ofpowers and functions to the LGs. These powers and functions have overriding effects on allother laws. The review of the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act, 1994 and the Kerala MunicipalitiesAct, 1994 indicates that vast powers and functions are included in these Acts for theprotection and conservation of environment. Most of these provisions are identical to thatprovided in the Central acts, rules and regulations. But certain provisions in the Panchayat Rajand Municipalities acts are inconsistent with the Central Statutes. In such circumstances, theprovisions in Central Statutes prevail over the other acts due to the overriding effect and theLGs should act in conformity with the Central statutes.The review of implementation status of Central Statutes indicates that the awareness of LGson the various provisions of the statutes is meager. There is lack of clarity on the precise roleof LGs in the enforcement of these statues. Even the powers and functions to protect andconserve the environment entrusted with the LGs, as provided in the Acts under which theyare constituted, are either least known or neglected by them. Apart from these, the StateGovernment also delegate or entrust some of the powers and functions under the CentralStatutes to the LGs. But, they are generally not attended to in the absence of clarity andfollow up. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a broad based campaign among the publicand intensive Information, Education and Communication (IEC) campaign among the officialsand other functionaries of LGs to bring in more clarity for utilizing the provisions of variousregulations on environmental protection.It has been found that the technical expertise and staff available with LGs are inadequate tohandle local environmental issues and enforcement provisions in the environmental statuteseffectively. Infrastructure facilities such as monitoring equipments, trained manpower foroperating the equipments, transportation, etc are mostly unavailable with the LGs. Multiplicityof statutes and reporting authorities also create confusion and uncertainty. In thecircumstance, a comprehensive legislation has to be made or the Panchayat Raj Act andMunicipalities Act amended by incorporating the various tasks and functions under the otherStatutes and removing the anomalies. In addition, there is a need to strengthen theinfrastructure and man power of the LGs to enhance their capabilities for enforcement andtackling local environmental issues.The LGs in Kerala are in the process of institutionalization; and rapid transformation is takingplace within them to perform the role of government rather than a project implementingagency. At this juncture, there is urgent necessity for extending necessary guidance, technical90