Oulgaret Municipality, which has been selected by the Union Urban Development Ministry among the 98 Smart cities in the country, has emerged as the new power hub in the Union Territory.
This municipality was earlier among the 11 commune panchayats in the UT by a French Metropolitan Decree and was upgraded to the status of a Municipality in 1994.
Though Oulgaret Municipality, comprising seven Assembly constituencies, is geographically bigger and more populous than Puducherry Municipality, the average revenue is significantly low when compared with its counterpart.
The UT is expected to receive Rs. 2 crore for working with a consultant of its choice from a set of agencies empanelled by the Ministry. The administration is gearing up to ensure that Oulgaret makes it to the shortlist of 20 cities that would receive a funding of Rs. 500 crore over a period of five years for evolving into a smart city.
The official explanation behind the nomination of Oulgaret has been that though the parameter-wise performance of both muncipalities were collated separately and the nomination submitted for Puducherry as a whole with a population of 6,57,209, the Ministry of Urban Development insisted on nominating only one urban civic body.
Oulgaret was presumably chosen because of its potential for greenfield development vis a vis the main town.
However, there are already rumblings within a section of the opposition that the decision to pitch for Oulgaret virtually ignoring the strategic, historical and culturally significant as well as the tourism potential of Puducherry smacked of political partisanship.
In fact, political parties cutting across party lines have all along been critical of the ruling AINRC for pampering Thattanchavady, Kathirgamam and Indira Nagar all located within Oulgaret. The choice of Oulgaret over Puducherry also comes at a time when the municipal limit of Puducherry which was earlier the power centre in the Union Territory has been slowly losing its sheen with the ruling AINRC pampering Oulgaret, sometimes even at the cost of the development of other urban local bodies in the UT.
A majority of educational institutions including the Indira Gandhi Government Medical College Hospital and Research Institute, a pet project of Chief Minister N. Rangasamy have been bestowed to Kathirgamam constituency located within the Oulgaret Municipal limits.
Only last week, the Chief Minister inaugurated the new Collectorate complex in Oulgaret.
The Chief Minister is also pursuing a plan to build a new building complex for the Assembly and the Chief Secretariat within Oulgaret municipal limits.
All government buildings, funds and employment opportunities have been extended to constituencies held by the ruling AINRC in Oulgaret with Puducherry losing its sheen.
R. Siva, convenor of Puducherry unit of DMK (South) has criticised Mr. Rangasamy for adopting a partisan attitude in the selection of Oulgaret as a smart city. All welfare schemes and employment opportunities have been bestowed to Oulgaret with a view to secure the party’s future.
‘Rescind decision’
The government should rescind its decision and recommend Puducherry Municipality to be made a smart city taking into the account of facts and figures of revenue through tourism and other growth oriented area, he said.
