Residents of Moovarasanpettai village panchayat are hoping that the State government would make an announcement that their local body would be merged with the Greater Chennai Corporation.
Moovarasanpettai is proximate to Madipakkam, which comes under the Chennai Corporation, and the Pallavaram Municipality, and residents of this village panchayat have been petitioning the State government to include their panchayat in the Chennai Corporation during its expansion in 2011.
They said that while villages like Jalladanpettai were included, they were ignored.
Citing lack of basic amenities, which include poor roads, inadequate sanitation facilities, civic groups have now approached the Alandur MLA V.N.P. Venkataraman, urging him to take steps to merge their village panchayat with Greater Chennai Corporation.
Until 25 years ago, the village was dependent on agriculture and sand mining. The population was close to 10,000 in 2011 and is currently 12,000. Since 1996, implementation of underground drainage was a poll promise, which till date remains ‘only a promise’, residents said. The village panchayat administration was simply unable to look after the drinking water requirements, bring underground drainage project to their locality or ensure proper solid waste management system, pointed out G.P. Babu. “Our petition was recently sent to CM’s special cell and we hope for a favourable response before the announcement of Assembly polls,” he said. The village panchayat even passed a resolution in favour of merger and the grama sabha too approved it, residents said.
