Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami announced the creation of two new districts in the state on Thursday. During his address at the Independence Day function in Chennai, he said that Vellore district will be trifurcated into Vellore, Tirupathur and Ranipet. The CM also announced that a new taluk will be formed with headquarters at KV Kuppam in Vellore district.
The creation of two more districts takes the total tally of districts in Tamil Nadu to 37. Vellore is one of the largest districts in Tamil Nadu by area. It has 13 Assembly constituencies and the district is divided between three Lok Sabha constituencies – Vellore, Arakkonam and Tiruvannamalai. The distance between the two ends of Vellore district is around 150 kilometres.
The announcement would mean that in the coming days, people from Tirupathur and Ranipet need not travel long distances to reach the Collector’s office in Vellore. At present, people living in Tirupathur have to travel 92 kilometres to reach the District Collector office in Vellore and those living in Ranipet need to travel 26 kilometres to reach Vellore.
Tirupathur town is a part of the Tirupathur Assembly constituency and Tiruvannamalai Lok Sabha constituency. Ranipet forms a part of the Arcot Assembly constituency and Arakkonam Parliamentary constituency.
This announcement is the latest in a series of new districts created in Tamil Nadu since January, when Kallakurichi was announced as Tamil Nadu’s 33rd district, created from erstwhile Villupuram district. In July, the government of Tamil Nadu created Chengalpattu and Tenkasi districts, carving them out of Kanchipuram and Tirunelveli districts respectively. The demands to make Tirupathur a separate district increased after these three districts were announced.