Councillors of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation shout slogans near the council hall against the delimitation exercise. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, July 29: The municipal corporation’s council meet today cleared the resolution for delimitation of wards amidst protests and sloganeering by councillors who alleged violation of norms in the re-alignment process.

The delimitation proposal tabled before the council stated that the corporation would have seven new wards on the basis of the 2011 census, which pegs the city’s population at 8.40 lakh.

The delimitation exercise before the 2008 poll was based on a population of six lakh, following the 2001 census.

With seven new wards, the corporation will now have 67 wards.

Councillor Pranab Kishore Swain was upset because his ward No. 45 had been reserved for scheduled caste women.

“The ward has been reorganised as ward No. 46, but many of its portions near Bhubaneswar Club and government quarters fell in ward No. 36. It is not clear how some areas went to the other ward,’’ he said.

Ward No. 46 councillor Manjulata Pradhan alleged that the principle of rotation had been used arbitrarily while categorising the seats for reservation.

“My ward has been designated as ward No. 40 and the seat is reserved for scheduled caste candidates despite the SC population being less here,” she said.

Mahamaya Swain, councillor of ward No. 47, said her seat had been bifurcated without any logic. “The civic authorities have created ward Nos. 52 and 53 out of my old ward, but have reserved the core area (ward No. 53) for an SC candidate. They have also violated directives of the Election Commission because ward No. 53 lies in two Assembly constituencies. The commission guidelines specify that a civic ward should be within one Assembly constituency,” she said.

Ashok Sahu, councillor of ward No. 50, alleged that while the main criterion for delimitation was the compactness of an area, the old ward had been vertically divided into two parts.

Krushna Chandra Sethy of ward No. 57 said most parts had now been included in the neighbouring seat.

“My area is now limited to Sunderpada and some nearby pockets but most of it went either to Bhimatangi or Kapileswar,” he said.

A civic official, who was executing the de-limitation exercise, said: “We have followed the criteria such as compactness of the area, equitable distribution of population among the wards, barriers such as railway line, national highway, major road and river. Reservation is also done on a rotation basis,” he said.

Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena, however, said the proposal was unanimously accepted by all members of the council.

“While executing the de-limitation exercise, every civic body faces protests because some councillors are affected by various local factors. But we have done justice to all and I hope the councillors will accept the decision happily,” he said.

Councillor Amaresh Jena, whose prospect for the coming civic polls was not affected by the de-limitation exercise as his new ward No. 45 remains unreserved, said: “Delimitation was the result of a thorough study. Some people are protesting because they have been adversely affected. Soon, they will realise that the new wards will also give them scope to contest from neighbouring localities.”