The Hindu 12.11.2009
Panchayats welcome upgradation
Staff Reporter
The upgradation will not bring additional restrictions on construction of buildings.
KOCHI: The State government’s decision to upgrade Thrikkakara, Maradu, and Eloor panchayats in the district to the status of municipalities has been unanimously welcomed by the panchayats concerned.
Sabitha Kareem, president of the Thrikkakara panchayat, said that being the hub of numerous development projects, the place had long outgrown the definition of a panchayat. “At present, we have to manage with staff which was proportional to a population of about 35,000 whereas the voters’ list shows that the population has crossed the 55,000 mark,” she said. Sometimes, the panchayat was forced to hire people on daily wages.
She’s hopeful of speedy and more efficient administration once the conversion takes effect and sufficient number of municipal staff were appointed.
Sources at the office of the deputy director of panchayat said the upgradation would not bring with it additional restrictions on building construction as panchayats were following the same Kerala Municipality Building Rules as the municipalities.
A senior official said the move was all the more welcome since no such upgradation had taken place in the district in the last decade.
A meeting convened by the Maradu grama panchayat on Wednesday unanimously approved the decision, which was the materialisation of a demand it raised three months ago.
K.A. Devassy, president of the panchayat, said it was becoming increasingly difficult to meet the needs of the people with the resources available to a panchayat. The panchayat was dead set against tagging it to the Kochi Corporation for fear that it would undo all the development it had achieved in the past 10 years.
“If that had happened, the existing 22 panchayat members would have been replaced by not more than five corporation councillors, which is far from an ideal situation,” Mr. Devassy said.
With a total population of 55,000, the panchayat at present has no wards with fewer than 1,500 people and in some places the size was close to 2,500. With the conversion, there would be a councillor each for every 1,000, Mr. Devassy said. The panchayat saw the decision coming and hence had been going on in a systematic manner so that the shift to municipality was smooth.
Usha P.P., president of the Eloor panchayat, however, cited some drawbacks along with the advantages.
While the assistance from the Urban Ministry was a definite advantage, the panchayat would lose the eligibility to implement the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, she said. Besides, even though the civic body would benefit from increased revenues, it also meant higher taxes for its residents.
Ms. Usha was happy that the government had dropped the initial idea of tagging the panchayat to the adjacent Kalamassery municipality.
