Special one-day session of Bengal Assembly today to pass Amendment Bills
Kolkata, Aug 12
A special one-day session of the West Bengal Assembly will be held on Wednesday to pass two crucial Amendment Bills to increase the number of wards in two municipal corporations, namely Kolkata Municipal Corporation and the Howrah Municipal Corporation.
The elections for the two municipal corporations are scheduled for the end of the current year and, in all probability, immediately after the end of the festive season starting with Durga Puja in October and ending with Diwali in November.
The new state government intends to complete the delimitation in a specific number of wards in both municipal corporations before those polls, for which two separate Amendment Bills will be tabled, discussed and passed in the House on Wednesday.
The legislators of both the ruling and opposition parties will be participating in discussions on the two Amendment Bills. Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari will also express his opinion on the Amendment Bills.
It is learnt that as per the proposal, the number of Wards in the KMC will be increased from the current 144 to 209, while the number of wards in the HMC will be increased to 68 from the current 50.
To recall, shortly after taking over as the Chief Minister in May this year, Adhikari promised the reorganisation of the seats of KMC and HMC before both the urban civic bodies would go for polls by the end of this year,
Last month, the West Bengal Municipal Affairs and Urban Development Department announced the formation of two separate high-power committees for the delimitation of the wards under the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), the oldest and most prestigious municipal corporation in the state.
Currently, KMC, which has a legacy of iconic Indian personalities like Subhas Chandra Bose, Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das and Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy (also former West Bengal Chief Minister) as its Mayors during the pre-independence era, has a total of 144 wards.
According to the Municipal Affairs and Urban Development Department, the delimitation of the KMC wards is necessary to ensure better civic services to the people. Under the proposal, smaller wards will be merged into one, but bigger wards will be bifurcated. The area covered under the existing wards will also be changed accordingly.
— IANS
Reader Comments
Adhikari saheb promised delimitation before civic polls, and he's actually delivering! This is how governance should work. More wards mean more councillors and better representation for local issues. But I'm curious about the criteria for merging smaller wards and bifurcating bigger ones. Transparent process is essential!
One-day session to pass such crucial bills? Seems rushed. Delimitation affects local representation for the next several elections. The opposition should be given adequate time to debate and scrutinize the proposal. 209 wards is a 45% increase - that's a major restructuring that deserves more than a single day of discussion.
As a resident of North Kolkata, I welcome this move! The current ward boundaries are so outdated that some areas have 3x more residents than others. It creates inequality in civic services. This delimitation is long overdue. Kudos to the state government for prioritizing urban governance! 👏
I'm skeptical about the timing. Elections are due at year-end, and suddenly we need two Bills passed in a single day? This feels like gerrymandering to favor the ruling party in the upcoming civic polls. I hope the opposition parties are vigilant and the High Court monitors the delimitation process to ensure it's fair.
This is historic! KMC being the oldest municipal corporation in India, having mayors like Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das, deserves this modernization. 144 to 209 wards will definitely improve service delivery. But I hope the smaller wards being merged won't lose their unique identity. 🤞
We welcome thoughtful discussions from our readers. Please keep comments respectful and on-topic.