CHENNAI: Residents of 15 village panchayats at the southern suburbs were irked after their villages were excluded from the newly-formed Tambaram Corporation. While the recent G.O. by the State included five municipalities and five town panchayats in the Tambaram Corporation, the 15 urbanised village panchayats such as Mudichur, Tirusular, and Medavakkam were not included.
Being the lowest rung of civic bodies, the village panchayats might not receive the same attention as a corporation would get. These villages are sandwiched between the Chennai Corporation and Tambaram Corporation on the map. Residents raised concerns that not being a part of a corporation might delay sanction and implementation of the major projects such as underground sewage lines, and sewage treatment plants that a corporation would get. Moreover, foreign bank-funded projects too might not reach these independent village panchayats.
Activist Dhayanand Krishnan, who resides in one of these villages, said there is an urban spurt in all the village panchayats, and infrastructure demand is higher. However, they have not been considered to be upgraded or merged with Tambaram Corporation. Sathik Basha, an activist from Medavakkam, said they had written to the district authorities several times in the past years requesting to add Medavakkam in Tambaram but no action was taken.
A few activists in Pallavaram, which has been added to Tambaram Corporation now, questioned why it was not added to Chennai Corporation since Pallavaram is located on the borders of the city. “Infrastructure wise, Pallavaram is more advanced than Tambaram. Sholinganallur that runs parallel to Pallavaram is under Chennai Corporation but our locality is under Tambaram. I find it questionable,” said activist David Manohar. Manohar further said there is no IAS officer for these added corporations.
Officials said the possibility of adding the left-out panchayats to Tambaram Corporation cannot be ruled out. “It depends on the population. For now, there is no discussion but we will have to wait and watch,” said a State Revenue Department official.