Till the end of the last decade friends and relatives would always ask Terence D' Rosario how far his Diamond Park home was from the IIM.

Rosario understood that Calcutta knew little about Joka other than it was home to IIM. His neighbourhood was still part of the Joka-II panchayat.

But things changed. The proposed Joka-BBD Bag Metro route and Joka becoming a part of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation's (CMC) area from September 2012 made it seem that the area on the southern fringe had come closer to the city.

As Rosario and his neighbours prepare to cast their first vote for a municipal election as residents of Joka on April 18, they are also worried whether becoming a part of eastern India's largest metropolis carries more opportunities or threats.

About 18.96sq km area that previously belonged to Joka-I and Joka-II panchayats have been turned into wards 142, 143 and 144 of the CMC.

Now that the area is a part of CMC, there is an opportunity as well as a threat. The area is set to gain in terms of improved amenities, better illumination, better roads and better sewerage system.

And the threat? The real estate boom, which has already started, being allowed to flourish without checks and balances. "It may either become a Tiljala or Topsia with rampant illegal construction or a modern township. Though not all places are empty, there is still considerable scope for planned development in many areas," said a CMC engineer.

The Metro project and Joka's inclusion in the CMC have already had an impact on land prices. A person who lives in the area said he relocated to Joka in 2007. It had cost him Rs 3lakh a cottah then. The present selling price is nothing less than Rs 18lakh a cottah.

The newly-included three wards are a gold mine to any political party. Ward 142, in particular, has vast open spaces. It is still like a mofussil town where young boys and girls play football on large grounds and race their bicycles. The places closer to Diamond Harbour are already congested but as one goes farther away, the population density starts decreasing.

The last time the CMC got new areas in its fold was during the 1985 elections. Kasba, Jadavpur and Garden Reach were included into the CMC, increasing its ward count from 100 to 141.

Old-timers said the addition of the 41 wards in 1984 was the CPM's strategy to secure victory in the civic polls. The CPM had a strong support base in Kasba, Jadavpur and Garden Reach.

Though there are apprehensions, there is also hope for a transition for the better. Moloy Biswas, 69, a resident of Joka for four years, said the road leading to Diamond Park from Diamond Harbour Road was earlier broken. "They have paved it now. But there is scope for improving amenities," he said.

A senior CMC engineer said the civic body had built 51.82km of new roads in the three wards. The CMC has also built 10km of drainage lines and have the uphill task of replacing the surface drains in the area with underground sewer lines.

Despite improvement, the infrastructure of the area is still in tatters, though the population is fast growing. At least one gigantic apartment block with roughly 2,000 flats and multiple smaller ones that are three or four storeys high came up in the last decade.

The candidates too acknowledged the lack of amenities. "Piped drinking water doesn't reach all households. I will try to take it to all houses. Also most of the places do not have underground sewer lines," said Shefali Pramanick, the Trinamul candidate from ward 144.

Souvik Chowdhury, 46, the CPM candidate from ward 143, echoed Shefali. "Water supply and faulty drainage are the two most serious problems of this area," said Chowdhury, who identified himself as a social worker. "The water supply network is not being maintained properly and the flow of water has reduced in the last couple of years. Also not a single new household got water connec tion after CMC took over this area," said Chowdhury, who was the deputy pradhan of the Joka-II panchayat and claimed he knew the place like "the back of my hand".

The CMC has assigned the IIEST, Shibpur to survey the place and suggest measures for building the sewer network.

But engineers said a largescale overhaul of the amenities could be done only when the place got elected representatives.

For that Joka has to wait till April 28, when the results will be declared.

"This expansion has great potential, but the fear is how well it will be done. Past records don't inspire much confidence," said urban designer Partha Ranjan Das. He said the biggest problem was the absence of a comprehensive development plan for Calcutta, which is due since 1986. "In the absence of a plan, development in any place becomes developer oriented. A developer will make only what sells."