TN govt to amend laws to upgrade town panchayats to municipalities, says Minister

Chennai, Jun 27 (PTI) The Tamil Nadu government has proposed an amendment to upgrade town panchayats to municipalities based on population, state Municipal Administration Minister K N Nehru told the Assembly on Thursday.

Chief Minister M K Stalin has ordered the upgradation of urban local bodies and accordingly an amendment would be brought in the Assembly on June 29, he said.

“Hitherto, Town Panchayats were upgraded based on revenue they earned and other parameters but now through the new legislation it would be possible to upgrade urban local bodies based on their population,” Nehru said responding to a question raised by Thalli legislator T Ramachandran, belonging to the CPI.

Drawing the Minister’s attention to the dilapidated Denkanikottai Town Panchayat building in Krishnagiri district, Ramachandran said there was an urgent need to construct a new edifice as the present structure was a run down building.

Also, he sought the Minister to take steps to upgrade Denkanikottai into a municipality taking into account the increasing population and needs of the people in the civic body.

“This should be possible after the amendment is brought day after tomorrow,” Nehru replied. PTI JSP ROH