The Hindu 11.04.2013
Will corporation tag bring civic amenities?
Mixed response to making Dindigul a municipal corporation.
The State government’s announcement of upgrading the
150-year-old Dindigul Municipality into a Corporation has evoked a mixed
response.
On becoming a Corporation, the
Municipality is expected to witness a 10-fold increase in size. After
annexing the nine villages — Pallapatti, Thottanuthu, Adiyanuthu,
Chettinaickenpatti, Ponnimandurai, Seelapadi, Balakrishnapuram,
Pillayarnatham and Kurumbapatti — the total area of the new Corporation
will be around 110.4 sq. km.
The population is likely to rise up to 4 to 5 lakhs from the present 2.07 lakhs, said Municipal Commissioner T. Kumar.
The
announcement was made in the Assembly on Wednesday. It would take at
least six to seven months to complete the process, he said.
The
Collectorate, District Sports Complex and many areas that were under
the control of panchayats and owned by the municipality will be annexed
to the Corporation area.
The long-pending demand of
shifting the Kamarajar central bus stand to the outskirts of the town
will become a reality soon, officials said. There was not enough land
for bus stand expansion now.
The civic body expansion
will pave the way for shifting the bus stand to the outskirts where a
big facility could be constructed. The existing bus stand could be used
to serve town buses, they said.
People at annexed
villages will get protected drinking water, wide roads, streetlights and
other urban civic amenities in a short period of time, the officials
said.
Autorickshaw driver S. Periasamy welcomed the move. But the government should improve civic infrastructure first, he said.
P.
Hari, another resident, said that the underground drainage work had not
been completed in the town. Garbage was not being cleared regularly.
The
municipality could not even supply water once a week. People may end up
paying more taxes without deriving any benefits once the municipality
became a namesake Corporation, he said.
