JOIN USThe Pattali Makkal Katchi on Thursday demanded to set up a commission for carving out more new districts in Tamil Nadu using the population as the yardstick.
An ally of the ruling AIADMK, the PMK, demanded one new district for a population of every 12 lakh people.
Welcoming Chief Minister K Palaniswami's announcement on trifurcation of Vellore district, top PMK leader S Ramadoss said his party's long-time demand for splitting Vellore district into three has now borne fruit.
Acceding to his party's demand and respecting the sentiments of the people of the district, the government has taken the step to split up Vellore and it is a welcome measure, he said in a statement.
Citing the recently announced districts of Kallakurichi, Chengelpet and Tenkasi coupled with two new districts announced today, he said these were, however, not enough.
"This is a good beginning for administratively reorganising Tamil Nadu's landscape."
A good step forward will be to reorganise districts of Tamil Nadu and carve out one new district for an average population of 12 lakh people, Ramadoss said adding he has been reiterating this aspect-time and again.
While districts were reorganised in Telangana on such a basis, Andhra Pradesh was also set to do it the same way, he said.
A similar approach should be adopted and, "a separate committee should be set up to split up districts in Tamil Nadu based on population," he added.
The top PMK leader listed Tiruvallur, Salem, Madurai and Coimbatore with over 30 lakh population and Thanjavur, Tiruvannamalai, Erode, Cuddalore, Dindigul and Virudhunagar with 20 lakh plus population and demanded splitting up these districts as well.
He also sought bifurcation of Nagapattinam district and making Mayiladuthurai the headquarters for a new district.
Seeking to substantiate his party's demand for dividing Vellore into three districts, he said Vellore district has a population of 39.36 lakh people and 13 Assembly segments.
To reach headquarters Vellore, from any border area of the district, one had to traverse a minimum of 100 km, he pointed out.
"It is a matter of joy that a slew of agitations in the past 20 years (for splitting Vellore district into three) has now borne fruit," he said.