Residents of two town panchayats seek merger of their areas with Tirunelveli Corporation

While the residents of Kondaanagaram village panchayat under Paappaakudi union are opposing the Tamil Nadu Government’s decision to merge the rural local body with the Tirunelveli Corporation, residents of Naranammalpuram and Shankar Nagar town panchayats have appealed to the government to merge the two local bodies with the Corporation.

In a petition submitted to District Collector K.P. Karthikeyan on Monday during the weekly grievances redress meet, the Kondaanagaram village panchayat residents said they, mostly farmhands being hired under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (MNREGP), would lose their livelihood if their village panchayat were to be merged with the Tirunelveli Corporation.

Moreover, they would be denied several welfare schemes meant for the rural poor such as free housing. The residents, who now easily approach the village panchayat president to get their grievances redressed, would have to travel 15 km to submit a petition to the Mayor or the Corporation Commissioner.

“While we will lose the livelihood after the proposed merger, the property tax, vacant land tax, water tax, professional tax and so on, all payable to the Corporation, will increase manifold. Moreover, the cultivable lands will be converted into housing plots by the realtors and consequently, the cost of land will skyrocket which will effectively deny the poor the chances of buying even a small plot for constructing their house. Hence, the government should drop the proposal to merge Kondaanagaram village panchayat with Tirunelveli Corporation,” said the petitioners.

Residents of Ittaeri, Thaazhaiyooththu and Ramaiyanpatti village panchayats have opposed the move to merge their local bodies with Tirunelveli Corporation and passed resolutions in the recently held gram sahba meeting in this connection.

Plea for inclusion

Meanwhile, residents of Balaji Nagar and Vaiyaapuri Nagar, both under Shankar Nagar Special Grade Town Panchayat, submitted a petition appealing to the Collector to merge their area with the Corporation. The petitioners complained that the town panchayat administration had not created basic amenities in their areas despite several representations.

“The Shankar Nagar and the Naranammalpuram town panchayats, which are under the control of one family affiliated to the DMK, have not witnessed any development in the past 15 years. Since the family members have close contacts with senior politicians and the officials here, they thwart any attempt to merge the town panchayats with the Corporation even as far-off village panchayat like Ittaeri are being included in the Corporation. Hence, the Collector should take steps to merge the Shankar Nagar and Naranammalpuram town panchayats on the border of the Corporation with the urban civic body in the interest of development of their area,” the petitioners said.

DMDK functionary from Kallidaikurichi A. Naalaayiram alias Muthu submitted a petition seeking the repair of road dug up for laying the drinking water pipelines before the onset of northeast monsoon.

Another DMDK functionary from Alangulam M. Palanisankar submitted a petition seeking action against a stone crusher unit functioning at Odaikkarai Thulukkarpatti village in Paappaakudi union for alleged violation of norms.

Published - October 07, 2024 05:31 pm IST