Villagers around Tambaram upset with new order

Villagers around Tambaram upset with new order

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:13.09.2021

The state government’s decision formally announcing the formation of Tambaram corporation by merging five municipalities and an equal number of town panchayats has found many takers.

However, several residents from15 village panchayats in the area are a disappointed lot as the government has not formally included their villages in the new corporation limits. The government order mentions that their inclusion would be done at a later stage.

Residents in these village panchayats said the decision to postpone their inclusion is a needless delay. This is so because despite being just a few kilometres from corporation limits, facilities in these village panchayats are several years behind those in the city. A Sathik of Medavakkam village panchayat said that the decision was a setback, as they had been waiting for 10 years for the new corporation.

J Shankar of Kovilambakkam village panchayat said there are some indications that the merger of village panchayats will be announced later. “But if elections are held to the village panchayats, then it is as good as postponing the merger by another five years,” he said.

A Varadhan of Moovarasampet village panchayat said they live just near the airport, but have only one official to handle their grievances and issues, which is not enough.

According to the new order, Tambaram, Pallavaram, Pammal, Sembakkam and Anakaputhur are the municipalites to be merged in the new corporation, while Chitalapakkam, Madambakkam, Perungalathur, Peerkankarai and Tiruneermalai are the town panchayats which will be merged.

The government order states that the revenue potential is increasing from these areas are increasing, while facilities like schools and colleges have also come up, which has necessitated the formation of a new corporation.

The projected population of the new corporation will be 9.6 lakh, up from 7.2 lakh in 2011