Madurai, Coimbatore will get bigger

After kicking off a proposal to expand Chennai Corporation, the TN government on Wednesday introduced a bill to expand the Coimbatore and Madurai corporations. According to the bill, introduced by deputy chief minister MK Stalin, who is also in charge of local administration, local bodies adjoining the cities would be attached to the corporations. Delimitation of wards would be carried out in the corporations before the next local body elections. After expansion, the corporations would have 100 wards each. The expanded Coimbatore corporation will have a size of 265 sqkm, about 80 sqkm more than that of the Chennai corporation. The inclusion of the city’s periphery will ensure infrastructure development along with the rest of Coimbatore. The expanded city will have three municipalities, seven town panchayats and two panchayats. Areas developing on a par with the city have been selected as per the guidelines framed by the municipal administration department, which factors in the population, the size of the local body, revenue generation and development possibilities. Coimbatore corporation commissioner Anshul Mishra said the aim was to manage the city, which has been rapidly growing over the last few years, in a systematic manner. District authorities said that local bodies were unable to generate sufficient funds to provide basic facilities for residents. As for the expanded Madurai corporation, it will be spread over 148 sqkm. When it was first upgraded into a corporation from a municipality in 1972, the limits extended over an area of just 22 sqkm. The second expansion was taken up in 1974, where the area was expanded to 52 sqkm by bringing 13 villages under its cover. Now it is being expanded after 36 years, bringing under it three municipalities and 11 panchayats. According to Madurai corporation commissioner S Sebestine, estimates were being prepared by technical committees for expansion works with regard to drinking water, roads and drainage facilities. The Madurai corporation now has four zones. This would go up after the expansion and steps are being taken to ensure that all wards are established in a uniform manner, he said.