Residents, mostly women, of Adi Annamalai, a tiny village panchayat on Girivalam Path near Arunachaleswara temple in Tiruvannamalai town, unanimously passed a resolution against merger of the village with the town in the grama sabha meeting held on Friday, to protect work for women under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme.
The residents greeted each other after the anti-merger resolution, brought by one of the women workers in the village, was added into the list of resolutions that were passed at the meeting, which was coordinated by S. Anbu, secretary of the panchayat.
A total of 12 resolutions, mostly related to civic amenities like storm water drains, roads and public toilets, were passed. “Resolutions passed in grama sabha meetings carry weight by the district administration in terms of allocation of funds and work orders. Grievances aired in such meetings are addressed immediately,” said N. Arumugam, president, Adi Annamalai panchayat.
Of the total 14 kms that forms Girivalam path, six kilometres come under the limits of Adi Annamalai panchayat that takes care of the daily maintenance of the path. Despite its closeness to the busy pilgrim town, the village consists of farming hamlets such as Kosalai, Mettu Kosalai, Kottangal and Vediappanur. Most of the residents are farmers.
Panchayat officials said that the village has nine wards with around 4,100 persons. Of this, around 55 per cent of them are women. Most of the women in the village were employed under the MGNREGA scheme to dig ponds and water channels. As the village is located along the fringe of reserve forests (RFs), women workers were also roped to create water facilities inside the forest for wild species, mostly spotted deer and peacocks.
The women fear that merger of the village with Tiruvannamalai municipality will result in loss of work under the MGNREGA scheme. As per the plan, officials of Tiruvannamalai municipality said that 20 surrounding villages around the town have been identified for the merger that would turn into a corporation.
In other words, 1.05 sq.km of space with at least three lakh persons of a population required to become a corporation.
According to section 3 of Local Bodies (Amendment) Act 2022, the municipal corporation is an area where the population is estimated not less than three lakh.
Towards this objective, municipal officials said that merger of adjoining villages have become necessary. At present, the municipality has a population of around 1.46 lakh persons in its 39 wards.
