Tamil Nadu is all set to get its 33rd district after Chief Minister Edappadi Palanisamy announced its creation on Tuesday. The new Kallakurichi district, with Kallakurichi as its headquarters, will be created by dividing the Villupuram district.
Palanisamy made the announcement during his speech at the Tamil Nadu Assembly. He said that he passed the motion upon receiving multiple requests from C Ve Shanmugam, the law minister and the MLA from Ulundurpet assembly constituency in Villupuram district.
According to The News Minute, EPS said that he made the decision due to the size of Villupuram district and how governing it was difficult. Reports state that one of the reasons also was the 70 km distance between Kallakkurichi and the district collectorate in Villupuram.
He added that a separate IAS officer would be appointed to the district. He also said that an IAS officer would be appointed as a special officer to oversee the formation of the district.
The newly formed district, which will be considered as a municipality will have four assembly constituencies and one parliamentary constituency.
However, a few people were not happy with the formation of the new district. R Nithiyandhan, a lawyer from Thiruvennainallur in Ulundurpet Taluk of Villupuram was among those opposing the move.
"If this area is added to Kallakuruchi district, people here (Thiruvennainallur) will face the same issues that had been raised by people of Kallakuruchi when they demanded a separate district headquartered in Kallakuruchi," Nithiyandhan was quoted as saying by The New Indian Express.
He also said that Thiruvennainallur is one of the most backward districts in Tamil Nadu and will now face the same problems people of Kallakuruchi faced.
"Now, we are able to reach the district headquarters in less than half an hour. If this comes under the new district, we will have to travel 70km over some two hours to reach the new headquarters at Kallakuruchi. There was no direct bus facility from Thiruvennainallur to Kallakuruchi town. So people have to waste a whole day if they wanted to visit any of the government offices in the district headquarters, including the collectorate," he complained.
