Divide & Rule: Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation

Bhubaneswar, Aug. 26: The state government today notified the final list of delimited wards of the municipal corporation making drastic changes in the proposals sent by the civic body.

The government has changed the reservation status of 33 of the 67 wards of the corporation. Boundaries have been redrawn in the case of eight wards.

The corporation council on July 29 had passed a resolution increasing the number of wards from 60 to 67 keeping in mind the 2011 census. The resolution also included a list of reserved wards according to the population criteria. But it was opposed by many councillors. Some had even resorted to protesting near the council hall that day.

Issuing the final delimitation notification, director, municipal administration, Hrushikesh Tripathy told The Telegraph: “We received more than 80 suggestions regarding delimitation. After hearing them all, we made some changes in at least eight wards. However, as one particular ward is surrounded by four others, the change also called for small geographical changes in the others. Hence, we had to change other boundaries.”

Tripathy said the new changes incorporated for reservation of seats for councillors would look after the interests of all in a better way. “The parameters strictly follow the Orissa Municipal Corporation Act 2003. The corporation officials were also consulted while carrying out these changes.”

A group of councillors alleged that the massive changes in delimitation were made to sideline some popular councillors. A senior housing and urban development official, however, denied the allegation.

“We have corrected the delimitation zones following grassroots-level data furnished by the corporation officials. The population criteria followed mathematical calculations. We were careful not to make any mistakes as violations might invite court cases,” the senior official said.

Seikh Nizamudin, councillor of Unit IX, said: “The final delimitation is absolutely right and there is no problem at all as the state government has done it following the population criteria and rotation principle. I think everyone should respect the final list.”