The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : PMK seeks district status for Tirupattur

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 17, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

PMK seeks district status for Tirupattur

Staff Reporter

It is needed for administrative convenience: MLA

“Women from Tirupattur work in textile units at Tirupur for
Rs.30 a day”

TIRUPATTUR: Tirupattur MLA T.K. Raja is all set to raise the issue of administrative convenience and seek the bifurcation of Tirupattur from Vellore during the forthcoming Assembly session.

Mr. Raja said that Vellore was a big district, spread over 64,044 sqkm. The population had crossed 35 lakh and there were a total of 12 Assembly constituencies and three Parliamentary constituencies. Besides, there were 15 municipalities, 21 town panchayats, 757 village panchayats, 21 special grade panchayats and 20 panchayat union blocks.

Tirupattur had to be separated from Vellore for administrative convenience, Mr. Raja said. There were separate District Education Offices for Vellore and Tirupattur.

Similarly, there were separate Forest Offices for Vellore and Tirupattur and also separate Deputy Director (Health) Offices. Tirupattur and Vellore were already functioning similar to separate districts. “So, Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi should consider all this and announce separate district status for Tirupattur,” Mr. Raja said.

As Tirupattur had not been declared a district, development work got delayed. People from Tirupattur and its adjoining villages had to travel 300 km up and down if they had work at the Collectorate in Vellore. Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri and Salem were within a distance of 110 km. Yet they functioned as separate districts.

Similarly, Tiruvarur, Thanjavur and Nagapattinam were separated by just 30 km. But all the three had been declared separate districts.

Mr. Raja alleged that the government was delaying a decision on his plea to bifurcate Tirupattur from Vellore. He had raised the issue in the Assembly more than 10 times. The Chief Minister had promised to consider the demand once the delimitation of constituencies was over.

Tirupattur and Vaniyambadi were yet to see industrial development, Mr. Raja alleged.

The only units that catered to the employment needs were the tanneries at Ambur and Vaniyambadi. The long-pending assurance of the State governments over a period of three decades to bring the SIPCOT to Tirupattur was yet to materialise, he added.

In fact a situation existed where the women from Tirupattur worked in textile units at Tirupur for a paltry sum of Rs.30 a day, he said.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu