Tamil Nadu

‘Draw up a draft plan for formation of Tirupur district’

— Photo: M. Periasamy

Do you agree? Special Commissioner and Commissioner for Revenue Administration Shaktikanta Das (left) and District Collector V. Palanikumar (right) hearing public opinion on formation of Tirupur district at a meeting held at Coimbatore Collectorate on Tuesday.

TIRUPUR: Political parties, farmers’ organisations and citizens’ groups want the State Government to first draw up a draft plan for the formation of Tirupur district and then seek the opinion of the public.

At a meeting here on Tuesday to elicit the views of various sections to the proposal for Tirupur district, representatives of these groups told Special Commissioner and Commissioner for Revenue Administration Shaktikanta Das that it would be better to discuss a draft plan than voicing one’s views on something that was not concrete.

S. Duraisamy of the Marumalarchi Labour Front was the first among the gathering to make this suggestion, after many others expressed views in favour of and against merging some areas from Erode and Udumalpet.

“Seeking opinions like this will only yield divergent views. This will only cause confusion as conflict of interests is natural. Instead, the Government can come out with a draft plan that can be placed before the people for scrutiny,” he said.

“The district administration itself can assess the requirements and the advantages and disadvantages of merging and bifurcating areas. But, only small and necessary changes should be made in the draft plan,” he said.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) legislator (from Tirupur) C. Govindaswamy and former legislator C. Sivasamy of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam began the meeting by calling for the merging of some taluks of the Coimbatore revenue district with Tirupur.

Mr. Govindaswamy wanted Avanashi, Palladam and Udumalpet in Coimbatore and Dharapuram, Uthukuli and Kangeyam in Erode district to form part of Tirupur.

Mr. Sivasamy called for merging of Avanashi and Madathukulam (on way to Palani) of Coimbatore district, Bhavanisagar, Nambiyur Union in Gobichettipalayam and Uthukuli in Perundurai (all in Erode district) with the proposed Tirupur district.

Bhavanisagar and Uthukuli were closer to Tirupur than the district headquarters in Erode, he said. A strong case was made out for merging Uthukuli with Tirupur owing to its proximity to it.

Mr. Govindaswamy said Udumalpet and the Tirumurthi areas should be added to the new district as a substantial portion of the Parambikulam-Aliyar Project ayacut area was in the Tirupur-Udumalpet region.

Farmers’ associations called upon the Government not to do anything that could prove detrimental to agriculture. Bifurcating taluks to redraw boundaries would not be ideal. This would make one area come under the Collectors of two districts. Therefore, if Udumalpet had to be a part of Tirupur, the entire taluk should be merged with it.

While considering inclusion of contiguous areas, the Government should ensure that bifurcation of agricultural zones did not land farmers in trouble over access to resources and official help.

Industrialist S. Appusamy wanted Dharapuram to be merged with Tirupur. Some other sections said Dharapuram should remain with Erode.

Coimbatore Collector V. Palanikumar, Tirupur Mayor K. Selvaraj, Pongalur legislator A.S. Mani, Tirupur Corporation Commissioner M. Ashokan were among those present at the meeting.

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