The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Delinking move sparks frantic political activity

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Nov 26, 2004

Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Delinking move sparks frantic political activity

By T. Nandakumar

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, NOV. 25. The United Democratic Front (UDF) recommendation to delink the panchayats merged with cities during the previous Left Democratic Front (LDF) regime has triggered a frenetic evaluation of the political arithmetic in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, which faces the loss of 25 wards.

The ruling LDF will be the biggest loser in the 81-member council if the delinking proposal is approved by the Government. The LDF holds 21 of the 25 wards annexed to the city, with the CPI(M) accounting for 20 wards and the CPI representing one. The UDF and BJP will lose just two seats each.

The delinking will leave the Corporation with 56 wards and a bitter political struggle to maintain the edge in a precariously balanced council. The merger of 25 wards from the suburban panchayats of Attipra, Kadakampally, Ulloor, Nemom and Thiruvallam had enabled the LDF to gain the upper hand with 51 of the 81 seats, leaving 30 for the Opposition. The UDF has 24 members in the present council, the BJP four and the PDP, two.

LDF view

The LDF leadership has termed the UDF decision as a political conspiracy. The Works Standing Committee chairman, V.S. Padmakumar, said the merger of five panchayats with the Corporation was aimed at elevating the capital city to a metro. "The UDF recommendation has dashed the hopes of the city residents. It has also deprived the city of the scope for Central Government assistance under a special package for metro cities," he said.

The LDF argues that the newly-annexed wards had witnessed a spurt of development and welfare activities since the merger. Each of these wards enjoys an allocation which is more than double the amount spent on the whole panchayat. The residents have benefited from the development of roads, electricity, drinking water supply slum improvement and other activities in the new wards, says Mr.Padmakumar.

The UDF council party leader, K.Maheswaran Nair, said the decision to delink the panchayats would be a boon for the residents. Describing the merger as a purely political move, he said the Corporation had been a miserable failure in providing basic amenities in the annexed wards. The increased outlay for the new wards also left the old city wards neglected, he said.

`Politically motivated'

NGOs and residents associations feel that the UDF decision to detach the panchayats is politically motivated. The president of the Confederation of Residents Associations, K.P.Karunakaran Nair, termed the recommendation as impractical and unwise. He said it would undermine the carefully planned development of the new wards.

The Environment and Development Initiatives for Thiruvananthapuram (EDIT), a city-based NGO, feels that any move to reverse the merger would impact on the development of the city and foil the effort to elevate the capital to the status of a metro. The EDIT secretary, M.Vijayakumar, said it would deprive the city of the scope for horizontal expansion and long term development.

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