Berhampur: A Congress councillor resigned from the municipal corporation, alleging that the civic authorities ignored him during reorganisation of wards.

Srinivas Rao, councillor for ward No. 34B, tendered his resignation to municipal commissioner Chakravarti Singh Rathore on Thursday.

"Though the councillors are supposed to be consulted at least seven days before the delimitation or reorganisation of wards, I was contacted only a day before the recent council meeting on the issue. The authorities are continuously neglecting my ward. The number of sanitation workers has considerably decreased over the past few weeks. Bus stops and community centres are still to be constructed in my ward," he alleged.

The BJP's ward No. 26 councillor Namitarani Panda also boycotted Wednesday's council meeting to protest against the delimitation of wards without her knowledge.

"The civic body authorities have closed their eyes to the problems of my ward," she alleged. She later sat on a dharna inside the council meeting hall for 30 minutes and demanded immediate action before staging a walk out.

Altogether, 15 councillors protested against the delimitation (ward reorganisation and change in pattern of reservation) by the Berhampur Municipal Corporation.

Municipal commissioner Chakravarti Singh Rathore said that the issue of ward delimitation was discussed during the last council meeting when only three councillors protested and their complaints were looked into.

"But as more and more councillors are complaining about the delimitation, they can complain to the government by April 12," he said.