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Kamal Haasan’s MNM promises Singapore-like standards to tackle Chennai floods
In November, the MNM promised a computer with high-speed internet for every home in its seven-point governance and economic agenda.
Kamal Haasan's Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) on Monday released a seven-point agenda each for rural and urban governance ahead of the upcoming assembly elections in Tamil Nadu.
In urban areas, it includes bringing in Singapore-like standards to mitigate flooding, especially in Chennai, and international standards of traffic management. If elected, the party’s government would support any panchayat or corporation which "adopts international standards in ecological sensitivity to become clean and green with the participation of citizens and NGOs,” the party said in a statement.
In rural areas, the MNM has promised salary to panchayat presidents and councillors along with the right to recall elected members in grama sabhas. The functions of the panchayat body will be available online and accessible through apps for the public and an ombudsman at the state and district levels to address issues raised by rural local bodies.
The agenda was prepared by the MNM along with a Chennai-based social organisation Satta Panchayat Iyakkam, said actor-politician Kamal Haasan at the video press conference.
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“There are several possibilities of corruption and we believe those on a payroll will be answerable and accountable,” said Haasan on their scheme to provide salaries to panchayat working heads.
In November, the MNM promised a computer with high-speed internet for every home and a pay for women homemakers for their household work in its seven-point governance and economic agenda.
Haasan is campaigning on an anti-corruption poll plank and positioning his fledgeling party as a third front where the ruling AIADMK and opposition DMK are the principal contenders.
The MNM was formed in 2018 and contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections with a 3.7 per cent vote share. Several former bureaucrats and social activists have joined hands with Haasan’s party.
