Delimitation of wards: Mohali MC yet to complete survey

Sanjay Bumbroo

Tribune News Service

Mohali, September 26

Even as the Punjab Government can announce the dates for the election to the municipal bodies in the state anytime, the Mohali Municipal Corporation is yet to complete the survey of delimitation of wards.

The survey is being conducted in new sectors of the city as a large number of people have constructed houses here in the past five years and a need for delimitation of wards was felt to give proper representation to these people in the Municipal Corporation. The elections for a total of 50 MC wards will be held in the last week of November or the first week of December.

Thirty-five teams had been constituted to carry out the survey in which people would be asked three questions — head of the family, number of family members and caste. The survey has been delayed by almost a week as it was to be completed by September 20. On August 7, the Punjab Government had constituted a board to decide on the delimitation of wards of the Mohali MC. The board will also decide about the allotment of 50 per cent of the wards reserved for women.

SS Dhanoa, former councillor of ward number 23, said the survey being conducted by the MC was just a formality. He said he had minutely watched the survey team. They were visiting a few houses in a lane to get information about the whole area. He said they were waiting for the finalisation of wards and if any ambiguity was found, they would challenge the same.

People of the new sectors (66 to 82) alleged that the staff were not even visiting houses and were just conducting survey on the basis of information provided by the first house in a lane.

Former Deputy Mayor Manjit Singh Sethi said they were not satisfied with the way the survey was being conducted. He said representation to people in the municipal council could only be given after adjusting the wards in the city.

Municipal Commissioner Kamal Kumar Garg said the survey would be completed in a day or two. He said after the completion of the survey, the board would hold a meeting to finalise the wards and reserve seats for women and SCs in the Municipal Corporation.