: For Piravom panchayat, January 14 will go down in history as a red letter day when its rightful status was restored after more than two decades.
The cabinet decision on Wednesday to accept the recommendation to elevate Piravom, a special grade panchayat, into municipality is seen more of a restoration rather than a promotion or upgrade in status.
The panchayat had been a municipality for a brief period of about two years before it was reverted to a panchayat in 1992, said Piravom panchayat president Sabu K. Jacob.
“It was then feared that being a municipality would attract higher tax rate and complexities of building rules. However, the municipal councils now have the authority to fix the tax rate while building rule provisions are already applicable to special grade panchayats. The panchayat had passed a unanimous resolution for the elevation,” he told The Hindu.
With its population touching 30,000, Piravom had already satisfied one of the major conditions in terms of population for elevation besides having an own fund mobilisation of Rs. 2 crore and 50 per cent of industrial area, other prominent considerations, Mr. Jacob said.
“Municipalities have greater scope for development, thanks to greater evolution of funds from the Central and State governments. While there are 1,000 panchayats in the State, whereas the number of municipal bodies are far limited ensuring larger share of funds,” he said.
Additional District Magistrate B. Ramachandran concurred observing that the elevation will have a positive impact on development both in terms of staff and fund allocation.
P.I. Mohammadali, chairman, Thrikkakara, which was elevated from a panchayat to municipality just before the last local body elections, said that elevation initiates a process of urbanisation. Municipal bodies will have greater autonomy in development activities, he observed. “For instance, if a municipal body has land at its disposal, it can avail of loan against it from financial institutions to fund development projects,” Mr. Mohammadali said.
Alongside Piravom, Koothattukulam panchayat is also on the cusp of elevation and is to go into next local body elections as a municipality. Panchayat president Seena Johnson recollected that the panchayat was declared a municipality back in 1996. But the move had to be dropped following protests over concerns of higher tax rates.
At present, the panchayat has 14 wards with a population in excess of 11,000. However, the elevation into municipality is likely to entail the attachment of portions of neighbouring panchayats of Ilanji and Thirumarady, of which the former had expressed its willingness, taking the number of divisions to 20, Ms. Johnson said.
With a population of 30,000, Piravom had satisfied one of the conditions for elevation besides fund mobilisation of Rs. 2 crore and 50 per cent industrial area.
