Ward delimitation: Civic body gets 2 more weeks for final demarcation

Ludhiana: MC officials have been given two more weeks to complete the task of final demarcation of wards in maps. The decision was taken during a meeting in Chandigarh on Tuesday where director, local bodies department, Uma Shankar reviewed the progress of ward delimitation.
The civic officials had demanded more time to finish the work.
The committee to finalise ward delimitation comprises officials and ruling party MLAs, senior deputy mayor Shyam Sunder Malhotra, AAP councillor Rakesh Prashar and BJP councillor Manju Aggarwal. There were speculations that the local bodies department may seek public objections in January after the meeting on Tuesday. But the director decided to call another meeting after two weeks as ward delimitation has not been completed yet.
Local bodies minister Inderbir Singh Nijjar had already hinted towards delay in the MC polls. The ruling party MLAs are trying to garner public support through ward-level meeting with public. Sources said AAP does not enjoy a very good rapport with voters. The opposition parties are highlighting how the ruling party is not going to fulfil its promises, and will face defeat in the MC polls just they did in Himachal and Gujarat.
The councillors had been raising question marks on the whole ward delimitation process, saying that nothing was done on the ground level, rather officials drew lines while sitting in their offices.
At the moment, the officials are setting blocks on the zonal maps according to population.
Sources said in ext month, election teams can come to the city to review the ongoing work. The local bodies department will also ask for public objections before finalising the process. The present MC house has time till March 26, after which all powers will go to MC commissioner. The ruling party MLAs may take advantage of that tenure and get all works done as per their whims and fancies, the opposition parties had claimed.