KMC ward rejig
Kolkata A 10-member Central Delimitation Committee (CDC) has been formed by Kolkata Municipal Corporation to create 56 additional civic wards, increasing the total from 144 to 200, officials said.
Civic officials said that while population growth across north Kolkata has been negative or low over the past decade, the southern parts have seen a significant rise, mostly driven by new residential complexes, commercial development and urbanisation along EM Bypass. “As a result, the number of wards may reduce in the north, but increase in the south,” said an official. “The increase in south Kolkata will mostly be along the Bypass.”
The civic body was put under an administrator after Trinamool’s rout in the recent assembly polls led to Firhad Hakim’s resignation from the post of mayor.
Ward 108, which covers the Anandapur-Chowbaga belt along EM Bypass, was the city’s most populous ward, with a population of 64,777, according to the 2011 Census. At the other end of the spectrum, some wards had fewer than 10,000 residents, including Ward 22, which covers the Posta area in north Kolkata. The delimitation aims to rearrange the wards in such a way that each has an average of 20,000 to 25,000 voters and 25 to 30 booths, an official said. Chief minister Suvendu Adhikari had on June 15 announced that KMC elections would be held after delimitation of wards and a new civic board would be in place by Dec 7.
“The purpose is to ensure that the wards are evenly balanced in terms of voters and population,” he said.