Ward delimitation pending, municipal poll now in Jan

Friday, 21/11/2014

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2014/20141121/punjab.htm#1

Chandigarh : With just a month left for elections to the 122 municipal councils and six municipal corporations, the Punjab government is yet to issue final notifications for ward delimitation of 30 municipal councils and all corporations. As a result, the local body elections will now be held in early January.

Sources in the Local Bodies Department told The Tribune that for the two municipal corporations of Pathankot and Mohali, even the draft notification had not yet been issued. While the ward delimitation in Pathankot was not yet complete, in Mohali, the government had received over 50 objections which had to be dealt with before the ward delimitation was finalised. Similarly, for two municipal councils of Gurdaspur and Arniwala, the ward delimitation work was incomplete.

Though initially it was believed that the municipal poll would be held in December, the elections have now been pushed to January. Official said the final notification of ward limitation had been issued for 60 municipal councils and draft notification had been prepared for another 60.

Of the 60 councils whose draft notification is ready, 30 are pending for final notification after the objections received from public have been settled. For the remaining 30 councils, the department is in the process of settling the objections.

Other than the two above mentioned municipal corporations, elections to four newly created corporations of Phagwara, Hoshiarpur, Bathinda and Moga, too, are to be held. The sources say the case for issuing final notification is still pending with Local Government Minister Anil Joshi. “We hope that these will be cleared by the end of this week,” said an official.

The sources say because of the ward delimitation process, they are receiving several objections from public and it is taking time to settle the objections.

“Based on the population, the blocks in each place have been clubbed to form a ward. On an average, each ward has an average population of 3,000 persons. The objections raised are not political, but technical as adjacent houses have now been assigned separate wards,” said the officer, adding that they would be able to complete all notifications only by the end of the month.

Notifications delayed

The government is yet to issue final notifications for ward delimitation of 30 municipal councils and all corporations

Ward delimitation in Pathankot is incomplete while in Mohali, the government has received over 50 objections

For two municipal councils of Gurdaspur and Arniwala, the ward delimitation work is yet to be finished