Villagers oppose move for merger with Corporation

Protesting against a proposal to merge eight more villages coming under Tiruverumbur Panchayat Union with the Tiruchi Corporation, a large number of residents of various villages, including Vengur and Panayakurichi, thronged the Collector’s office here.

The agitators, who came by vans and cars, presented a petition to Collector K. Rajamani, seeking his immediate intervention to withdraw the proposal. Led by Ayilai Siva Suriyan, district secretary of Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam, they met District Revenue Officer A. Basheer and expressed their grievances.

Taking strong exception to the move, Mr. Siva Suriyan said that no resident of the villages had demanded the merger of villages with the Tiruchi Corporation. There was absolutely no need for it. Moreover, the proposed villages comprised agricultural areas. Almost all residents of the villages were farmers or landless labourers. Most of them were dependent on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Job Scheme for livelihood. If their villages were merged with the Corporation, they would be removed from the payroll of rural job scheme as the scheme was applicable only to village panchayats. Hence, the Corporation should drop the proposal immediately, the villagers said.

“We are shocked to know about the merger proposal. What is the need for merging agricultural villages with the Corporation? We do not want to be part of Tiruchi Corporation,” said M. Subramanian, district president of Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam and a resident of Vengur.

Recalling the merger of Kattur and Pappakurichi with the Tiruchi Corporation a few years ago, he said that the newly added wards have been languishing without basic amenities including proper roads and drinking water facilities though, residents of these areas were paying huge sums towards property and water taxes to the Corporation. If Vengur and other villages were added, the residents would get nothing except paying huge tax, Mr.Subramanian maintaine.

Source:http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Tiruchirapalli/villagers-oppose-move-for-merger-with-corporation/article19578005.ece