THANJAVUR
Residents of Kumbakonam, who have been lobbying for creation of a new district with the town as the headquarters, has expressed disappointment over Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami’s reported statement that there will be no more bifurcation of districts in the State.
V. Sathyanarayanan, general secretary, Federation of All Traders Association, Kumbakonam, said the Chief Minister had made this announcement when the people of Kumbakonam had revived their agitation recently, demonstrations in support of the demand for formation of a new district would not have been organized.
Making such statement at a period when representatives from all walks of life coming together for a common cause was highly regrettable, he said.
Meanwhile, a few politicians cutting across the party lines have observed that evolving a consensus among the political parties towards the reorganisation of revenue districts based on the Parliamentary constituencies or announcing this as a State policy could help avert the pleas for formation of new districts.
A senior politician from Thanjavur district who had served as the peoples representative in both the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly and in the Lok Sabha pointed out that such a reorganisation would also help to route the funds released under various schemes and implemented through the District Rural Development Authority of the respective districts effectively.
At present, several MPs were designated as chairman of District Development Coordination and Monitoring Committee in one district and as co-chairman of a similar committees in the neighbouring district. If the revenue districts were reorganised based on the Lok Sabha Constituency then it would be easier to monitor the implementation of the schemes, he added.
Echoing a similar view, senior government officials said such an arrangement would help the government staff execute their duties effectively. It would also help much trouble faced by the government staff during the conduct of Parliamentary elections as some constituencies are spread over two or three districts, they added.
Former Union Minister and sitting Thanjavur MP S.S.Palanimanickam suggested that the erstwhile combined Thanjavur district, which was made up of 20 Assembly segments, could be divided into five districts to fulfil the aspirations of the local people.
