Several people and organisations from the city lodged formal objections with the Secretary, Delimitation Commission, on Monday against deleting Tangasseri from the list of the 55 divisions of Kollam city through the delimitation process under way. Their demand is that the historic Tangasseri should be retained as a division.
Former Mayor and CPI(M) leader N. Padmalochanan in his complaint stated that Tangasseri is one of the most prominent locations of the city and, by virtue of its historical and cultural traditions, had been maintained as a revenue division of Kollam city and erstwhile Quilon town.
A Kollam Corporation Council without Tangasseri as a division is by all means unjustified. Those executing the delimitation process should understand the importance of a division and then draw the boundaries and christen the division. There has to be a Tangasseri seat in the council, he said.
Former councillor H. Basilal said that dropping Tangasseri as a division through the delimitation process smacks of the callous manner in which it is being carried out. No other location in Kollam has such Statewide, nationwide and international recognition like Tangasseri. The old colonial enclave has to be retained as a division of the city, he said in the objection lodged.
S. Ambli, president, Rotary Club of Tangasseri, said Tangasseri is the only area in the city with historical importance and after Ashtamudi Lake, it is the most important tourism destination of the city. A division with the name Tangasseri that existed for decades is now being deleted without any rhyme or reason, he stated.
S. Ajit, general secretary of the IJHS Alumni Association, the body representing former students who had passed out of the 75-year-old Infant Jesus Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School, Tangasseri, said he and the hundreds of students who had studied at the school were highly disturbed to hear that Tangasseri was being dropped as a revenue division of the city. “We just cannot imagine a Kollam city without a Tangasseri division in the Kollam Corporation Council.”
Office-bearers of the Tangasseri-based Gandhi Seva Sanghom Library and the Coastal Young Men’s Society also lodged objections against the move.
There should be Tangasseri seat in city council, says former Mayor
Historical, cultural importance of enclave cited
