Alayamon
Grama Panchayat

History

When the first Grama Panchayat election was held, today's Alayamon Grama Panchayat was only three wards of the very large Anchal Panchayat: Alayamon, Moongodu South, and Moongodu North. Palara Balakrishna Pillai, then the Alayamon ward member, was the President of Anchal Grama Panchayat. Changanassery Mathachan, who won the Moongodu North ward, was the Vice President. The representative of the Moongodu South ward was Kadayattu Bhaskaran Unnithan. Because Balakrishna Pillai was a government employee, he resigned, and P. Ponnappan Pillai won the by-election as the Alayamon ward representative.

Following the reorganization of wards, the number of wards in Alayamon Grama Panchayat rose to six in 1962: Alayamon One, Alayamon Two, Mulappamon, Channapetta, Anakkulam (a dual-member constituency), and Elavoor. From the dual-member ward of Anakkulam, one representative had to be elected to the general seat and one to the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe seat. Since there was no reservation for women members, the governing council would co-opt a woman member.

Thus, from the seven members elected in 1963, P. Ponnappan Pillai was elected Panchayat President and Puthayam Mathai was elected Vice President. The other committee members were: 1. C. Yohannan Kutty, 2. P.J. George, 3. C. Mathai, 4. K. Kunchandy, 5. C.P. Raghavan, and the woman member, Pankajakshi (nominated). The first Executive Officer of the panchayat was Abdul Kareem.

When the wards were reorganized again in 1977, the number of wards in the panchayat became nine: Alayamon, Kannamkodu, Puthayam, Karukon, Mulappamon, Meenkulam, Channapetta, Anakkulam, and Elavoor.

Following the implementation of the Panchayat Raj Act, fresh elections to the local self-government institutions were held on September 25, 1995.

Cultural History

Alayamon Grama Panchayat has a mixed cultural heritage. Since the time of settlement, an exemplary tradition of love and harmony among the various religious communities has been a source of pride for this land.

Temples and sacred groves such as Alayamon Alappan Temple, Pathirimuttom Temple, Kuttinad Temple, Elavoor Sree Ayyappan Temple, Kottavila Temple, Manakkodukavu, Poonkodukavu, Karukon Pekkavu, and Pullanjiyodu Valiyavayal Moorthikkavu are centers of celebration, festivals, and worship. Places of worship of various Christian communities can be found in places such as Kannamkodu, Alancherry, Mukkoodu, Meenkulam, Pothanpara, Channapetta, Pallitheri, Moongodu, Anakkulam, and Oil Palm.

This land was once rich in folk art forms such as Theyyam, Thira, Padayani, Kuthiyottam, Kampadikali, Kolkali, Vayappattu, Villadichampattu, Njattuvelappattu, Onappattu, and folk songs, but all of these are becoming alien to it under the onslaught of modern culture. Although many of them no longer exist, the panchayat has a number of libraries that carry on their heritage. The most important of these are Puthayam Public Library, Desasevini Mahila Samajam Library in Karukon, Karukon Mahatma Gandhi Library, Meenkulam Sanathana Library, and Anakkulam Library.