Panel flays minister for not pressing demand for Sankarankovil district

Tenkasi: The Sankarankovil Mavatta Korikai Orunginaipu Kulu (Sankarankovil district request coordination committee), which is demanding the creation of Sankarankovil as a separate district, has strongly condemned local MLA and adi dravida welfare minister, V M Rajalakshmi for failing to press for its demand.

Organizers of the committee that comprises 48 associations with representatives from all political parties claimed that the efforts taken by the minister who is also a resident of the town were not even close to the one taken by the Tenkasi MLA to get Tenkasi announced as a new district.

The organizers, who petitioned ministers R B Udhayakumar, S P Velumani and P Thangamani at the secretariat a week before the GO declaring formation of Tenkasi from Tirunelveli district was passed, expressed displeasure at the government lending a deaf ear to the demands of people of Sankarankovil and nearby taluks.

“The ministers told us that the local minister (Rajalakshmi) has not put forward the demand to them,” P Marimuthu, an organizer who was part of the delegation said. Organizers expressed hope that Sankarankovil district would still become a reality in near future. They pointed out that Vellore district that had 13 taluks has been trifurcated (Vellore, Ranipet and Tirupattur) with four to five taluks in each district. The Tirunelveli district that had 16 taluks has been bifurcated into Tirunelveli and Tenkasi districts with eight taluks each.

“We will urge the chief minister to bifurcate Tenkasi into two districts to form Sankarankovil district with four taluks in each of the two districts,” they added.

Representatives of the committee who had earlier requested permission to protest during chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami’s visit to Tenkasi on Friday, dropped the plan following peace talks with revenue officials.