With the State government making no announcement of merging the town panchayats of Perundurai and Karumandichellipalayam to form Perundurai municipality during the current Assembly session, Communist Party of India (CPI) has urged the government to form the municipality to benefit the people.
V.C. Swaminathan, secretary, CPI-Perundurai Town Panchayat branch, in a letter to Chief Minister said that the State government had on August 24 made various announcements to upgrade town panchayats and municipalities across the State. But, Perundurai has been a ‘Selection Grade’ municipality from 1960 while Karumandichellipalayam town panchayat has been functioning from 1982.
The letter said that Perundurai is one of the most important industrial towns in the State and has more workers, including migrant workers, working in industries at Sipcot. While areas to the north side of Erode – Kunnathur Road comes under Karumandichellipalayam Town Panchayat, areas located to the south side of the road comes under Perundurai Town Panchayat. Both have a population of 25,000 and 35,000 respectively, the letter said.
The letter said that Perundurai‘s geographical proximity to major cities and its location near the Salem – Kochi national highway paves way for more growth opportunities. It serves as a taluk and generates revenue for the government. But, development activities could not be carried out as it continues to be a town panchayat, the letter said and pointed out that steps were taken during 1996-2001 and 2006-2011 to upgrade Perundurai as a municipality.
