Opposition parties may allege Edappadi Palaniswami-led AIADMK Government as corrupt and inefficient. But that has not deterred the Chief Minister from taking steps to facilitate governance easily accessible to the people of the State. While addressing the the Independence Day Parade at Fort Saint George in Chennai, the Chief Minister delivered yet another pro-people act by declaring the formation of two more districts in the State.

With the announcement of two more districts, Ranipet and Thirupattur by trifurcating the district of Vellore, Tamil Nadu will have 37 districts. The  number of districts in Tamil Nadu went up by five during the last eight months.

“We have created 85 taluks and 11 revenue divisions since 2015,” said RB Udhayakumar, Tamil Nadu Minister for Revenue. He also said that the creation for new districts  was the first step towards effective administration.

“You can watch a marked difference in the quality of governance with the creation of these new districts. The District Collectors who are the bosses of the districts would find it easy to monitor the progress of government schemes and ensure that the aspirations of the population get fulfilled,” said Udhayakumar.

S Ramdoss, founder, PMK and a staunch critic of the Edappadi Palaniswamy Government was the first to  congratulate the chief minister for the bold initiative. “This is a right step in the right direction. The districts in Tamil Nadu have become difficult to administer because of population explosion and the area of each unit . Smaller area and lesser population should be the criteria to carve out districts. The district administration should be able to attend to the grievances of the public within minutes and resolve them fast,” Dr Ramadoss told  The Pioneer.

The PMK founder is also of the view that there is enough potential to carve out smaller districts from the existing large land mass. “I feel the number of assembly and  parliamentary constituencies too should be increased based on the population. This would make it easy for legislators and  Parliament members to go justice to their electorate,” said Ramadoss.

Most retired civil servants too made it known that more the number of districts, the people stand to benefit. “There will be employment generation in government services as well as in business establishments. It will be a win-win situation,” said Swaran Singh , a former Chief Secretary.

People who are familiar  with local body governance are of the view that once the local bodies are in place after the election, the quality of administration would be visible. “Based on the present day population, Tamil Nadu should gave at least 60 districts for speedy and fair governance,” said Ramadoss who believes in the dictum small is beautiful.