Ward delimitation likely by month-end

Ludhiana: With the MC planning ward delimitation, officials have started marking wards. The final report will be sent to the state government by the end of this month. A meeting has been scheduled in Chandigarh in this regard but officials are tightlipped about the difference in the population covered now and in 2017-18.
In the 2017 ward delimitation, the population was somewhere over 17 lakh but now, a population of around 15 lakh has been covered. Sources said that even officials are unaware about the reasons for this. They said they would send the report as it is to the government for a final decision.
Meanwhile, two more members are to be included in the committee of councillors formed for the purpose. The committee will hold a meeting next week over finalisation of ward delimitation. A senior official said that they have to complete the process by December-end, which the deadline fixed by the Centre. He also said they were marking wards, blocks and population on the maps of all the four zones, followed by which final wards would be declared and the government would seek suggestions or objections from the public.
However, councillors have been questioning the ward delimitation exercise saying that officials did not take the survey seriously and some of the areas were not included. tnn