Three municipalities and a village panchayat in Karur have been merged to form a geographically bigger entity. Now the enlarged Karur Municipality would encompass areas demarcated erstwhile as Inam Karur and Thanthoni municipalities besides the Sanapiratti village panchayat.
Reckoned as one of the oldest civic bodies, the Karur Municipal Board came into being on November 1, 1874, and has been in existence in one form or the other over the past 136 years. On October 2, 1969, the local body was classified Grade I Municipality, and on May 9, 1983, as Selection Grade Municipality. On May 24, 1988, the State Government upgraded the civic boy as Special Grade Municipality. All through, the number of ward in the Karur Municipality was 32 and on March 22, 1995, the number of wards was increased to 36.
However, the adjoining Inam Karur and Thanthoni Municipalities that form part of the whole town on either side of River Amaravathy, came into being much later. While there are 36 wards in Karur Municipality, there are 21 wards in Inam Karur and 19 wards in Thanthoni Municipalities for a total number of 76 wards in the three municipalities.
Meanwhile the State government came up with the idea to merge the three civic bodies and the Sanapiratti panchayat, serving a bigger geographical area but accommodating only 48 ward members as councillors instead of the 76 wards in the outgoing councils.
“It is good that the three civic bodies have been merged. Inam Karur and Thanthoni Municipalities were a farce and hardly any worthy development works could be undertaken on a large scale. Every time the officials had to depend on extraneous factors to get infrastructure development schemes implemented in the area. Now, reality has dawned on the government and the areas are merged to give rise to a new and bigger Karur Municipality that should serve the townsmen better,” points out a retired Municipality official.
However, a senior Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam functionary and Karur Municipal councillor Maniraj has moved court against the merger move citing some administrative flaws and lapses. He has opposed the merger effected earlier this year and sought judicial intervention to reverse the merger order.
