Anaicut village panchayat now has its own building

After meeting under a peepal tree for nearly half a century, Anaicut village panchayat started functioning in a new building on Wednesday.

“The new building will help us to meet often to discuss public issues. The building will also help us to store essential items to organise various camps. Nevertheless, the tree will always remain part of our lives,” said 42-year-old Thilagavathy Sarathy, president, Anaicut village panchayat.

Along with nine ward members, Ms. Sarathy took oath as president of the panchayat in the new building. Spread over 2,400 sq ft, the office was built with funds from the MGNREGA scheme that was executed by the District Rural Development Authority (DRDA) at a cost of ₹17.64 lakh.

Residents, who are mostly farmers, also pooled their money for the new building. The entire construction of the office was done by the MGNREGA workers, mostly women. The work started in April 2020.

The building office has a spacious meeting hall that can accommodate around 60 persons. It also has an office room, rest room and store room. For persons with disabilities, ramps are provided. The building also has a rainwater harvesting system, LED lights, CCTV cameras and solar panels.

Meanwhile, the elected members for 7,251 posts, including village panchayat ward members and panchayat presidents covering a population of 20.33 lakh voters in Vellore, Ranipet and Tiruppatur, took oath on Wednesday.

District Collectors presided over the oath-taking ceremony in the Collectorates. Elections were held in two phases between October 6 and 9 for these posts with a poll percentage of over 75 in these districts. Divided into four categories, the elections were contested on party basis for the posts of district ward members and panchayat union members. For the posts of village ward members and panchayat presidents, candidates contested on non-party basis.

Anaicut village panchayat now has its own building

For nearly 50 years, it had been meeting under a peepal tree