5 villages protest merger with Athirampattinam

TIRUCHY: Presidents of five panchayats along with residents in Thanjavur staged a protest on Wednesday not to merge their villages with the Athirampattinam Municipality as they already lack several basic amenities.

According to the protestors, the Athirampattinam town panchayat in Thanjavur was upgraded in 2021 as municipality and there was an announcement declaring that adjacent village panchayats - Magilankottai, Eripurakarai, Thokkalikadu, Mazhavenirkadu and Narasingapuram - would be merged with the municipality. From the beginning, residents of these village panchayats have been opposing the merger plan.

In such a backdrop, presidents of these five panchayats along with residents took out a procession from the ECR to the Athirampattinam municipality office and staged protest demonstration demanding to drop the merger.

They alleged that tax rates would be hiked and agricultural works and cattle rearing would be affected if they were merged with the municipality. Such a move would affect the livelihood of the people, they claimed.

Already several areas under the municipality lack proper drinking water, road facility, streetlights and various other basic amenities and once these villages are merged, our areas would also meet the same fate. Protestors said they could now manage with the minimal facilities provided by the panchayat.

Residents, who raised slogans against the move, announced hunger strike if the merger decision was not withdrawn. The police, who were on duty, pacified them and later, they dispersed from the spot. Traffic was disrupted on Nagai-Thoothukudi ECR for more than an hour due to the stir.