THOOTHUKUDI: Tossed back and forth between two unions of two different districts, people of the 12 villages of Ilayarasanendhal firka are in the midst of an identity crisis, as their revenue administration falls under Kovilpatti taluk of Thoothukudi district whereas the local body administration is attached to Kuruvikulam panchayat union of the newly-formed Tenkasi district.
The apex court’s recent verdict on the local body elections, to carry out delimitation works in the nine reconstituted districts, made confusion worse confounded as the panchayat administration of the villages falls under one of the newly-reconstituted districts – Tenkasi.
The villagers are unanimously demanding to conduct the local body elections for the Thoothukudi district after annexing the villages with the Kovilpatti Union.
Half-a-century-long demand
The firka, located at a 10-kilometre distance from Kovilpatti, comprises 12 village panchayats -- Pitchaithalaivanpatti, Appaneri, Vadakkupatti, Nakkalamuthanpatti, Pillyarnatham, Ayyaneri, Jameen Devarkulam, Chitrampatti, Puliyankulam, Ilayarasanendal, Lakshmiammalpuram and Mukkuttumalai. Citing the proximity to the Kovilpatti, the villagers have been demanding to annex the villages for around 50 years.
The firka is 20 kilometres away from the Kuruvikulam Union and has poor bus transportation facility to the union.
At present, the departments of revenue, police, health (allopathy) and anganwadi scheme are annexed with the Thoothukudi district, however, departments including education (primary and middle school), civil panchayat, PWD, TWAD, EB, noon-meal scheme, health (siddha) are associated with the Tenkasi district.
Eleven of the 12 village panchayats are co-terminous with the revenue and panchayat administrations.
Got tangled up
An official data reveals that a resolution to merge the villages of Ilayarasanendhal firka with the Kovilpatti taluk was passed by the then Tirunelveli-Kattabomman district development board on December 4, 1989, a copy of which the TNIE possess.
In 2007, the villagers passed another resolution in this regard, which was revealed by an RTI, dated September 9, 2009, obtained by one ex-army man Jeyaprakash Narayanan of Jameen Devarkulam village.
The State government had passed an order, dated April 15, 2008, to merge the villages with the Kovilpatti taluk. Fifteen days later, when the order came into effect, the firka was merged with the taluk, however, the panchayat administration remained under the Kuruvikulam Union of the then composite Tirunelveli district.
Narayanan said that the then Block Developmental Officer (BDO) of Kuruvikulam, in January 2014, obtained resolutions from the panchayat presidents over a single night to annex the villages with Tiruvengadam Taluk.
Despite the attempts of the BDO, the villages were not included to the Tiruvengadam Taluk, when it was formed in 2015, he said.
“There is already a resolution passed in 2007 to merge the villages with Kovilpatti. It is unlawful to pass resolutions against the same,” he said, adding that a complaint has been lodged against the BDO with the Chief Minister's cell and 16 other departments on January 22, 2014. He also alleged that some of the officials and politicians had attempted to retain the village with the Tirunelveli district against the wish of the villagers.
In May 19, 2014, a public hearing was conducted, concluding that the majority of the people were in favour of the merger with the Kovilpatti taluk.
Contradicting the public opinion, the Additional Chief Secretary on September 1, 2017, had issued a status quo order, retaining all the 12 panchayat unions with the Kuruvikulam union.
The recent bifurcation of the Tirunelveli district had again tangled up the issue at hand. Despite the revenue villages being under the Kovilpatti taluk in Thoothukudi district, the villagers would have to exercise their franchise for the Tenkasi district, if the local body elections were to be conducted in this scenario.
Villagers accuse local body of corruption
Jeyaprakash told TNIE that the situation worsened post bifurcation, as the Tenkasi district headquarters is 85 kilometres away from Ilayarasanendhal. The villagers have to take two buses to reach the headquarters to submit their grievances, he added.
A Sankaralingam, another petitioner, said, “A daily-wage labourer will need to spend half a day to submit grievances at Kuruvikulam union panchayat and will lose a whole day if needed to visit the collectorate.”
The villagers accused the civic body of the Kuruvikulam panchayat union of being “highly corrupt” and added that the officials of the district administration could not conduct surprise inspections because of how far away the union is from the headquarters.
Citing the distance as the reason, Desiya Vivasayigal Sangam President Renganayagalu said that the people were not receiving the welfare schemes of the government and their grievances were not being addressed.
A former ward member of Appaneri, speaking on condition of anonymity, claimed that the region remains underdeveloped as it was associated with the Kuruvikulam union, which never allocates adequate funds for the welfare benefits, including road relaying projects.
Villagers of Appaneri and Ayyaneri said that their area was likely to be appended to the Kovilpatti municipality during its expansion because of its proximity with the municipal area.
The villagers of the firka urged the State government that the local body election for Thoothukudi district be cancelled alongside Tenkasi district until the delimitation, reservation and rotation process associated with the firka issue was resolved.
Pointers
As per the 2011 census data, the population of Ilayarasanendhal was 19,899 and has 12 village panchayats in it.
Based on a proposal submitted by a review committee in 2009, inclusion with Kovilpatti would spike the union’s population to 1,24,296 and the number of village panchayats from 38 to 50. It will also increase the number of panchayat union wards in Kovilpatti from 19 to 24.
Whereas, the number of union wards in Kuruvikulam will reduce from 20 to 16.
If merged, Thoothukudi district panchayat wards will increase from 18 to 19. Meanwhile, annexing the villages will not alter the number of district panchayat wards of Tirunelveli district.
A brief timeline
Oct 20, 1986: Thoothukudi district is carved out of the then composite Tirunelveli district. Thoothukudi was then called by “Chidambaranar district”.
Dec 4, 1989: Tirunelveli-Kattabomman district development board passes resolution to merge the 12 villages with Kovilpatti taluk of Thoothukudi
Aug 21, 2007: A writ petition was filed at the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court in this regard
2007: All the 12 villages pass resolutions in favour of the merger.
Apr 15, 2008: State government passes the order to annex the villages with the Kovilpatti taluk.
Feb 2, 2009: Thoothukudi and Tirunelveli district collectors submit a joint proposal for the merger
2011: A case praying to annex all the departments of Ilayarasanendhal firka with Kovilpatti is filed.
June 26, 2013: Thoothukudi collector submits a written statement to court that the 12 villages have been merged with the district and all the control of the villages fall under Kovilpatti taluk.
Jan 2014: Kuruvikulam BDO obtains resolution from panchayat presidents seeking to merge the villages with Tiruvengadam Taluk.
Jan 22, 2014: A complaint is lodged against the BDO.
May 19, 2014: A public hearing is conducted, which concludes a majority of the public are in favour of the merger.
Aug 16, 2017: HC observes that the revenue villages are transferred to Kovilpatti union and directs the State government to take a decision in the matter and file the response on Sep 5, 2017.
Sep 1, 2017: State government issues a status quo order on retaining the villages with Kuruvikulam panchayat union.