Bigger Kozhikode, better opportunities
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The expansion of the Corporation area will give a fillip to development. BIJU GOVIND looks at the project.
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The decision of the Cabinet to extend the boundaries of the Kozhikode Corporation by including three nearby grama panchayats will not only spur growth in the suburban regions but is also expected to give a fillip to the realty sector.
The State government has cleared the proposal to merge Elathur, Nallalam-Cheruvannur and Beypore panchayats with the Corporation, thus extending the city limits from the Chaliyar river in the north to Korappuzha in the south. Consequently, the Corporation area will increase from 84.23 sq .km to 118.2 sq km (Beypore has an area of 10.2 sq km; Cheruvannur-Nallalam, 10.3 sq km and Elathur, 13.5 sq km).
An earlier proposal was to include portions of Feroke and Olavanna panchayats in addition to these three. The plan to create a new municipality with Feroke, an emerging town, as headquarters by adding portions of Ramanattukara and Kadalundi grama panchayats has been dropped for the time being. Nevertheless, the latest decision will benefit the residents of both the city and the three grama panchayats.
Kozhikode has been the only city corporation in the State that had failed to get due consideration for extending its geographical boundaries for the past several decades.
The decision, a long-pending one, has come as a relief to a large extent. But the civic body is yet to match Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi in area. Even then, the decision will have a tremendous impact on construction activities in the city.
Kozhikode has missed the bus whenever major Centrally sponsored schemes have been announced for cities in the country. Today, it gets funds from less-known schemes envisaged for small towns and cities.
The reasons cited for being left out were the smaller area and the population of Kozhikode. The population of the city stood at 4,36,556 as per the 2001 census, but will increase to more than six lakh after the amalgamation of the three panchayats (Beypore has a population of 66,895; Nallalam-Cheruvannur, 57,110 and Elathur, 41,326).
BIJU GOVIND
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