Even as the Erode Corporation plans to expand its jurisdiction, it has yet to submit any new proposal for inclusion of adjacent village panchayats, as it is awaiting a decision from the State government.
First constituted as a municipality in 1871 with an initial population of 10,201, Erode was upgraded to special grade municipality in 1980 with an area of 8.4 sq. km and later to a Corporation in 2007 by merging four municipalities, two town panchayats and a few other areas. But, Lakkapuram and 46 Pudur panchayats in Modakkurichi taluk refused to pass resolutions for the merger and they were left out during the expansion. Currently, the city is spread across 109.52 sq. km. with a population of 6.45 lakh. It has 1.69 lakh households and 27,386 commercial establishments.
Aimed at increasing the revenue and for administrative reasons, the civic body proposed to expand its limits, and the special officer appointed by the State government in 2017-18, submitted a proposal for expansion of the Corporation limits. Areas proposed to be included were Chithode town panchayat - 12,034 population, Mettunasuvampalayam panchayat – 17,240, 46 Pudur panchayat – 16,054, Lakkapuram panchayat – 9,739 and few other areas.
“Residential areas have come up in large numbers on city outskirts and it is essential to merge the areas with the Corporation to provide better amenities,” said a Corporation engineer who pointed out that the new bus stand being constructed at Solar Punjai Lakkapuram at ₹63.50 crores is located outside the city. The engineer said space crunch is a major issue in the city for bringing in new development projects and hence expansion will be the only solution.
When contacted, Corporation Commissioner V. Sivakrishnamurthy, told The Hindu that no new proposals for expansion had been sent recently and pointed that it was the policy decision of the State government. “If the government makes an announcement, we will prepare and submit a proposal,” added the Commissioner.
