Indian Express 21.10.2010
Proposal sent for ward formation in Gandhinagar
Syed Khalique Ahmed Tags : state Urban Development Department, UDD Posted: Thu Oct 21 2010, 05:44 hrs
The state government granted a municipal corporation status to Gandhinagar last year following a High Court order on a petition by Gandhinagar Jagrut Nagarik Parishad.
UDD officials said Gandhinagar, with a population of 1.95 lakh as per the 2001 census, can get a ward strength between 10 and 17. Junagadh, which has a population of 2.49 lakh, has 17 wards with a strength of 51 councillors.
As such, Gandhinagar, whose population might have crossed the two lakh mark — a number of educational institutions and trade centres have come up in the town and a large number of state government officials are also residing there — may be given a ward strength somewhere between 10 and 17, they said. As of today, there are a total of 50,000 housing units in the state capital, said UDD officials.
Deputy Secretary (municipal corporations) N G Hareja said, UDD has forwarded the details of ward formation to the state government. Incidentally, Gandhinagar is the only state capital in India without an elected municipal corporation.
Officials further said that work of the new corporation is not suffering because the Gandhinagar district collector has been given all powers of an elected body. Besides, the state government recently appointed a municipal commissioner to take care of the day-to-day civic work in Gandhinagar.
