Make Kumbakonam a new district, traders urge CM

The Federation of All Traders Associations of Kumbakonam has urged Chief Minister M. K. Stalin to fulfil his election promise to create a new district with the town as the headquarters.

“While campaigning at Thirukadaiyur and Orthanadu in the run up to the Assembly election, Mr. Stalin, as the then leader of Opposition, had promised to initiate steps to form the new district once the DMK returned to power to meet the expectations of the people of the region. We request the Chief Minister to make the announcement on the creation of the new district at the earliest,” said a resolution adopted at the executive committee meeting of the federation held in Kumbakonam recently.

With Kumbakonam being a major commercial hub in the delta region, the demand for creation of a new district had grown popular over the past three decades. The demand to make Kumbakonam division, covering Kumbakonam, Tiruvidaimarudur and Papanasam Assembly segments, a new district has grown shriller in recent years.

The town residents had intensified their efforts and staged a slew of protests including a hartal called by the Coordination Committee for Formation of Kumbakonam District. The issue was raised even at a recent public hearing on the expansion and upgradation of the Kumbakonam municipality as a Corporation. Residents were not happy over the upgradation saying that what they wanted was a new district and not an upgraded civic body.

“The federation has been lobbying for the cause for the past thirty years. Kumbakonam MLA G. Anbalagan has also been pressing for the demand besides the local Bar association, social organisations and representatives of all political parties,” the resolution adopted at the meeting said.

The federation also pointed out that voters in Kumbakonam constituency have been consistently returning DMK candidates in the Assembly elections for the past several years, expect in 1991. Hence the Chief Minister has the responsibility to fulfil the demand of the people of Kumbakonam, the resolution said.