KANNIYAKUMARI: Holding a consultation meeting with the representatives of village panchayats in Nagercoil on Tuesday, Milk and Dairy Development Minister T Mano Thangaraj said there will be no merger of 25 village panchayats in Kanniyakumari district with nearby town panchayats.
The merger, which was proposed in a letter from the Assistant Director of Town Panchayats to the Assistant Director of Village Panchayats in December 2023, had drawn flak from various quarters including panchayat presidents, MLAs, and common people.
As per a government press release, 20 representatives of village panchayats met with Thangaraj in the presence of Collector P N Sridhar and urged the minister to give up the proposed merger of village panchayats with urban local bodies. Thangaraj stated that the government will not implement any projects against the welfare of people, and the collector added that merger measures were put to halt, read the release.
"Kanniyakumari is a district with the least number of village panchayats (95), after Chennai and Nilgiris, in the state that includes 12,525 village panchayats. The local bodies here have been depending on government schemes, as it has no major factories or other commercial opportunities to earn more revenue. As the district's natural environment is not fit for urbanisation, no measures will be taken against the will of the people," Mano Thangaraj said.
According to official sources, the proposed merger was in line with the municipal administration minister's reply to the demand for grants for the financial year 2023-24, as the tenure for local bodies would end in December 2024.