Residents oppose bifurcation of Sirumalai panchayat

Residents from Sirumalai hill throng the Collectorate in Dindigul.
| Photo Credit: G. KARTHIKEYAN

The Residents of Sirumalai in Dindigul district have objected to the bifurcation of the panchayat into two panchayats: Sirumalai and Thenmalai. Pudur in Sirumalai which has the basic infrastructure and government offices should be made the hub, they said.

In their petition to Dindigul Collector, the residents said that Sirumalai had a population of more than 1,500 voters and Thenmalai less than 500 voters. The State Highways Department had laid the road up to Pudur in Sirumalai. However, to reach Thenmalai one had to enter the forest area and take the forest road, they said.

Sirumalai has a government school, anganwadi and adequate land to establish government offices. However, Thenmalai was inside the forest area. Therefore, it was not feasible to establish facilities inside the forest area, they said.

Most of the offices with adequate infrastructure were established in Pudur in Sirumalai. Therefore, there was no need to bifurcate the panchayat into two and create two new panchayats: Sirumalai and Thenmalai. The Sirumalai panchayat was enough and steps should instead be taken to create a hub at Pudur, they said.