CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government has issued a gazette notification for upgrading seven town panchayats to municipalities.
This includes Polur and Chengam town panchayats in Tiruvannamalai district, Kanniyakumari town panchayat, Sankagiri town panchayat in Salem, Kothagiri town panchayat in the Nilgiris, Avinashi town panchayat in Tiruppur and Perundurai town panchayat in Erode.
The notification was published on March 24 and signed by D Karthikeyan, Principal Secretary to Government, Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department.
“Based on the above constitution, wards will be divided for the next general election,” the notification stated, adding that the municipalities have been declared under provisions of the Tamil Nadu Urban Local Bodies Act, 1998, after taking into consideration objections and recommendations received.
In January this year, the state government had notified proposals to form 13 new municipalities. Apart from the seven stated in the gazette notification, orders were also issued to upgrade Harur, Sulur, Mohanur, Kavundapadi, Naravarikuppam and Veppampattu to municipalities.
According to the notification, there have been continuous demands for conversion and upgrading of local bodies. Through these measures it will be possible to integrate contiguous areas efficiently to achieve the objective of providing basic quality infrastructure to the people, carry out overall planning for infrastructure development in such a way that all resources for development are used in the right manner, the notification stated.