The Deccan Chronicle 13.08.2010
Chennai not to expandAug. 12: Fearing dissent among the party functionaries representing local bodies, the DMK government has put on hold the project to expand Chennai’s boundaries.
Cutting across party lines, ward councillors of Chennai Corporation and several adjoining local bodies are worried at the proposal to expand the Corporation limits from 176 square kilometres to 424 square kilometres.
They fear that the delimitation process would affect the boundaries of their carefully nurtured home constituencies. A section of councillors said that the DMK government was not keen on pursuing the project with elections around the corner.
“More than three dozen existing wards, mainly represented by ruling DMK and opposition Congress, are in the hit list,” said a senior DMK councillor of Park Town. “These wards will either be merged or bifurcated. This would affect the future of sitting councillors and also the campaign ambience.”
However a senior official denied that the expansion project had been put on the back burner. According to him, the delimitation exercise (finalising the boundary of new wards and zones of the Greater Chennai Corporation) was expected to be completed in a couple of months.
“There is no hurry as the expansion will come into force prior to the next local body elections, slated to be held in October 2011,” he said.
