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Tamil Nadu: Three districs carved out of Vellore, state count touches 37

Chennai: Chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Thursday announced the trifurcation of Vellore district into Vellore, Ranipet and Tirupattur districts, taking the total number of districts in Tamil Nadu to 37.

Making the announcement at the 73rd Independence Day celebration in Chennai, the CM said the decision has been taken in deference to the wishes of people, ministers and MLAs who wanted new districts to be carved out of Vellore.



Vellore district was created in 1989 by bifurcating the erstwhile North Arcot district into Vellore and Tiruvannamalai districts. The district currently has 13 taluks and a population of nearly 40 lakh.

Pattali Makkal Katchi, an ally of the ruling AIADMK that has been demanding the division of Vellore, welcomed the announcement.

“It takes 220km to travel from one end of the district to the other end, and 100km from border areas of the district to reach Vellore town. People are celebrating the decision by distributing sweets and bursting firecrackers,” party founder S Ramadoss said in a statement.

In July, the government carved out Tenkasi from Tirunelveli district and Chengalpet from Kancheepuram district. Last year, Villupuram was divided into Villupuram and Kallakurichi districts.

The CM also declared that November 1 would be celebrated as Tamil Nadu Day to mark the birth of the state on November 1, 1956. Hiking pension of freedom fighters from Rs 15,000 to Rs 16,000 and pension for their legal heirs from Rs 7,500 to Rs 8,000, and financial aid of Rs 2,000 per month to all Below Poverty Line families after a full-fledged enumeration of 60 lakh BPL families were some of the other important announcements of the CM.

Palaniswami also announced special CM grievance redressal programme in August and September to redress public grievances within a month.

The government will purchase 2,000 new buses this year, the CM said, adding that a new district cooperative milk producers union will be carved out of the existing Vellore union.

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