ITANAGAR, 9 Mar: The Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly here on Thursday unanimously passed three bills by voice vote.
The bills are the Arunachal Pradesh Goods Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2023; the Arunachal Pradesh Protection of Drinking Water Catchment Areas Bill, 2023; and the Assam Frontier (Administration of Justice) Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2023.
Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein, while moving the Arunachal Pradesh Goods Tax (Amendment) Bill for consideration and passing, said that “the bill is placed to amend the Arunachal Pradesh Goods Tax Act, 2005 (Act No 73 of 2005) and shall come into force with effect from 1 April, 2023, for whole of Arunachal Pradesh.”
PHE&WS Minister Wangki Lowang informed the House that the Arunachal Pradesh Protection of Drinking Water Catchment Areas Bill “is to provide for the protection of drinking water catchment areas with a view to preserve drinking water sources and to make provisions for the same and matter connected therewith.”
Lowang, while seeking support from the members for passing the bill, said that “water is one of the most vital elements to human life and community,” adding that “development activities are being affected due to lack of water supply.”
He said that, “as the drinking water sources in the hill areas are diminishing due to denudation, effect of global warming and unwanted human activities in the catchment areas, it has become necessary to take regulatory measures to protect and improve the environment and the catchment areas and thereby preserve the drinking water sources therein and augment the yield of drinking water from other such sources, such as springs, streams and rivulets.”
The minister informed that, “besides attending to the preservation and protection of natural resources, the bills, when put in place, would activate people’s participation in governance, thus empowering them at the lowest level, as the government would work in line with the recommendation of the village community in this regard.”
Earlier, Borduria-Bogapani MLA Wanglin Lowangdong strongly advocated protection of water sources and catchment areas through measures like forestation, plantation of grazing land and other such activities to prevent soil erosion, degradation, etc. Supporting the bill, he emphasised on “meeting up water scarcity in Patkai range as the need of the hour.”
Kanubari MLA Gabriel D Wangsu sought “dedicated fund as incentive to the villagers towards their sensitisation and motivation to come out for voluntary land donation of the catchment areas.
“This would secure the water sources and provide sustainability to deal with water scarcity,” he said.
Aalo East MLA Kento Jini spoke on adopting rainwater harvesting programmes and controlling pollution in the catchment areas, while Doimukh MLA Tana Hali Tara stressed on “notifying the catchment areas to avoid problems in future.”
Chief Minister Pema Khandu informed the House that amendment to the Assam Frontier (Administration of Justice) Regulation Act has been done in order to strengthen the traditional customary laws as practiced in the state.
Calling upon the members to support the bill’s passing, Khandu said that “provisions will be kept for further reviews and amendments after due consultation with all stakeholders, including the law and parliamentary affairs department, the Bar Council, and CBOs.”
He said that the Assam Frontier (Administration of Justice) Regulation, 1945 is “one of the pre-constitutional and pre-independence laws which gives statutory safeguard to the indigenous people of Arunachal Pradesh for protection of age-old local traditional customary laws through the institution of village authority, and the Assam Frontier (Administration of Justice) Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 is placed to make provisions for framing guidelines by the government for election, selection, appointment, powers, functions and meetings of the head gaon buras and head gaon buris, and gaon buras and gaon buris.
“The proposed amendments bill envisages inserting some definitions under Section 5 to include the institutions of HGB, head gaon buri, GB and gaon buris and traditional village head under the ambit of village authority,” the CM said.
Supporting the bill, the Kanubari MLA suggested including terms like Wangham, Lowang, Singpho and Khamti chiefs to recognise the chieftainship “in the areas of its existence,” adding that “this would facilitate authenticating the institution and avoid conflict of traditional judgments being practiced since generations.” (DIPR)
