The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : LDF justifies merger of panchayats

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 25, 2004

Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

LDF justifies merger of panchayats

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JUNE 24 . The State Election Commission's observation questioning the Constitutional validity of the merger of five suburban panchayats with the city Corporation has led to a war of words between the ruling and Opposition fronts in the Corporation Council. The LDF council party today accused the Opposition UDF of using the issue to settle political scores.

On Wednesday, the UDF leadership in the Corporation had urged the Government to reverse the merger and return the newly-annexed wards to the former panchayats in the wake of the Election Commissioner's statement. It had also threatened to move the High Court on the issue.

On Tuesday, the State Election Commissioner, N. Mohandas, had observed during a press conference that the direct merger of panchayats with corporations and municipalities did not have Constitutional validity. He had pointed out that the Municipalities Act only enjoined the Government to set up town panchayats in `twilight' zones that were neither urban nor rural in character.

In a press note here today, the LDF parliamentary leader, K.C. Vikraman, and the secretary, Kadakampally Mohanan, maintained that the former LDF-led Government had fulfilled all legal formalities before issuing a notification on the merger.

"The Attipra, Ulloor, Kadakampally, Nemom and Thiruvallam wards were identified on the basis of their urban character. The then Government had sought the opinion of the panchayats on the merger and the notification was issued only after the panchayat committees unanimously endorsed the proposal", they said.

The LDF leaders said that the procedures were completed well before the elections to the local bodies. They pointed out that the then Election Commission had conducted the elections after approving the merger.

They said that the UDF was raking up the issue in view of the coming elections to the local bodies. "With just two councillors in the 30 wards annexed from the panchayats, the UDF is desperate to reverse the people's verdict", they said.

The LDF leaders argued that the newly-annexed wards had witnessed a spurt of development and welfare activities since the merger. "Today, each of these wards enjoys an allocation that is almost double the amount spent on the whole panchayat. The residents have benefited from the development of roads, electricity supply, drinking water supply, slum improvement, construction of school buildings, modernisation of hospitals and supply of medicines, improvement of basic facilities in the anganwadis, distribution of unemployment dole, old age and widow pension, vector control and sanitation activities in the new wards", LDF leaders said.

They said that the impetus on development had greatly enhanced the LDF's support base, throwing the UDF ranks into despair. The Left party leaders in the council said that any move to reverse the merger would have disastrous consequences on the new wards. Development activities would come to a standstill and the administrative mechanism would break down, the leaders warned.

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