Palayampatti residents against merger with Aruppukottai municipality

Residents of Palayampatti oppose State government's plan to merge with Aruppukottai municipality due to increased taxes and job loss fears.

ARUPPUKOTTAI

Residents of Palayampatti have put up placards outside their houses expressing their opposition to the State government’s proposal to merge parts of the rural local body with the adjacent Aruppukottai municipality.

The placards, put up by Palayampatti Panchayat Protection People’s Movement, appealed to the State government to give up its plan to merge parts of Palayampatti panchayat with Aruppukottai urban local body.

The residents said that they do not want to go with the municipality as property tax, water tax and solid waste management charges would go up manifold. The shops and commercial establishments would attract fresh tax and the residents would lose their right to get jobs under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme.

Besides, their livelihood could be affected and they would not get benefits of group housing scheme.

The coordinator of the movement, R. Ram Pandian, said that Aruppukottai Municipal Commissioner has said that the merger plan was the State Government’s policy decision in which the municipality could not interfere.