R. ARIVANANTHAM
CHENNAI, MARCH 24
Nagapattinam district will be bifurcated into two districts. The new district Mayiladuthurai will be established as the 38th district in the state, said Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami here on Tuesday.
The Chief Minister announced this in the state Assembly on the last day of the shortened budget session that ends on Tuesday instead of the earlier business schedule of April 9. The session ends sine die on Tuesday in the wake of coronavirus threat and the lockdown announced by the government.
The existing district of Nagapattinam will be bifurcated and Mayiladuthurai will become the headquarters of the new district. Earlier this month, the Chief Minister, speaking at the foundation-stone laying ceremony of a new medical college in Orathur in Nagapattinam district, had announced that the government was considering the bifurcation of Nagapattinam into two districts.
Fulfilling the demand of the Mayiladuthurai sub-division, in the same event, the Chief Minister announced that the hospitals at Mayiladuthurai and Sirkazhi would be upgraded with more facilities.
Mayiladuthurai Municipality was established in 1865 and until independence, it was a part of Thanjavur district. When Nagapattinam district was formed in 1991 by bifurcating Thanjavur; Thiruvarur, Mayiladudurai, and Mannargudi initially fell under Nagapattinam. Later, in 1997, Nagapattinam district was further bifurcated into Nagapattinam and Thiruvarur.
Mayiladuthurai, located at a distance of 280 kilometres from Chennai, is home to several temples dating back to the medieval Chola era. Its main water source comes from the Kollidam River.
There are currently 37 districts in Tamil Nadu, of which five new districts were established just before the election for the rural local bodies at the end of last year.
Villupuram was split to form Kallakuruchi and this was the first new district to be formed in 2019. Then came Chengalpattu and Tenkasi districts, sliced from Kanchipuram and Tirunelveli districts, respectively. The trifurcation of Vellore rounded off the new districts spree by the government. Tirupathur and Ranipet were formed subsequently last year.
