The Communist Party of India (Marxists), Pattukottai Union, has demanded that a separate district with Pattukottai as headquarters be carved out of the Thanjavur district.
A resolution to this effect was passed at its 13th conference held at Pattukottai recently. Resolutions demanding speedy execution of outer ring road project, implementation of underground sewage network, construction of check dams, disbursement of house site pattas and opening of sand quarries for the benefit of bullock-cart traders were passed. A resolution suggesting allocation of 100-days work scheme on rotation among the villages in a panchayat was also passed.
Meanwhile, a tentative list of local bodies to be merged with Kumbakonam Municipality to elevate the latter as a Corporation has evoked mixed responses from the people. Inquiries reveal that one town panchayat and 13 village panchayats situated around the Kumbakonam are to be merged to form the new corporation. Not all the village panchayats are to be merged fully with the corporation. Only 6 out of the 13 village panchayats are to be merged entirely with Kumbakonam whereas only a portion of the village panchayat domain depending on the proximity, location and various ‘other influencing factors’ in each of the remaining 7 rural local bodies, are to be brought under the new corporation’s domain.
Following the merger, the total area to be brought under the administrative control of the proposed Kumbakonam Corporation is expected to increase to 42.95 square km from the existing 12.58 square km that remain under the municipal domain. Similarly, the tentative population of the proposed corporation is estimated to hover around 2.50 lakh persons with more than half the population hailing from the existing municipal domain. On the revenue generation front also the existing municipal domain is all set to play the key role since the probability of setting up business or emergence of trading activities in the village panchayat areas to be merged with Kumbakonam town remains meagre.
The previous proposal to bring the semi-urban areas such as Dharasuram, Swamimalai, Thirunageswaram and Thirubhuvanam Town Panchayats under the proposed corporation might have served the purpose of formation of the corporation as these town panchayats had enough potential to get themselves transformed as full-fledged urban localities in view of their tourist attractions, according to a group of social activists in Kumbakonam town.
