Tiruchy villagers protest over merger with corporation, attempt to besiege Collectorate

TIRUCHY: Residents from Uthamarseeli Panchayat in Tiruchy attempted to besiege the district Collectorate on Monday condemning the merger of their village with the corporation and issued a warning that a series of protests will be conducted until the move was withdrawn.

Around 100 residents from Uthamarseeli Panchayat in Anthanallur Union in Srirangam Taluk headed by former council members Sivamani, Rajavel, Ravichandran, Balakrishnan and Paramasivam came to the Tiruchy Collectorate and attempted to besiege the office. They said the village would be affected if it was merged with the city corporation or some other union. They said that they want to continue in Srirangam taluk as a village panchayat as the residents are dependent on agricultural activities.

They said that most residents are daily wage workers, so the merger with the city corporation would affect their livelihood. “The government neither convened a meeting with the residents nor got consent from the representatives of the local body. While the residents are struggling for their daily bread, the merger would increase the taxes which would be very difficult for us to tackle”, Sivamani told the reporters.

He also said that they had already opposed the merger move and sent representations to the government and the district administration. But no positive response has been received from the government so far.

“We will surrender our government documents including ration cards and Aadhaar cards condemning the merger plan. We will continue to protest until the government withdraws the move”, Sivamani stressed.

The residents attempted to besiege the Collectorate but they were stopped by the police. Later, they submitted a petition to the collector M Pradeep Kumar who promised to forward it to the government.