The Coimbatore Corporation has submitted to the Central Government a proposal to add three municipalities, 11 town panchayats and 18 village panchayats to it and expand the city area from 105 sq.km. to 476.54 sq.km.
“A city development committee from the Central Government will visit the city to assess the Corporation's requirements and also what it can do for the areas it wishes to merge with the city,” Mayor R. Venkatachalam says. The proposal has now moved up to this point after a series of discussions with the other local bodies
The Corporation will list all the infrastructure development, solid waste management, drainage and energy saving schemes it has already embarked upon and explain how these can be implemented in the other local bodies that will be merged with it, he adds.
The Mayor explains that villages and towns adjoining the city will benefit immensely from major schemes that are approved for a corporation when they are merged with it.
The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, originally meant for 63 cities across the country, later added an urban agglomeration component that aimed at including the peri-urban areas (along the city border) for infrastructure development.
The city expansion will naturally bring development to these areas.
“There is a demand for metro rail facility for the city. But, it cannot be implemented with the current size of the city. The expansion will be of great help in this regard. Only big cities can get big schemes,” Mr. Venkatachalam points out.
If there are reservations over the expansion in some of the targeted local bodies, it is only because of the reluctance to give up posts of municipal chairman and panchayat presidents, the Mayor says.
“I was a member of Ward 8 of Sanganur Panchayat, before it became a part of the Corporation. Now, I am the Mayor of the city. Apart from development, expansion can bring about greater opportunities in terms of posts too,” he says.
Source -- Hindu
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