CHENNAI: Moves to expand Chennai city’s limits from the existing 174 sqkm to 426 sqkm will be kick-started right away by the administration. he Chennai Corporation’s council, which is meeting on Thursday, will discuss the appointment of a high-level committee, headed by a special officer, to oversee the redrawing of the city’s map. The panel will be tasked with studying procedural and infrastructure requirements to carry out the expansion. Extending the jurisdiction of utilities, such as the Chennai Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board, to cover new areas in the suburbs would also be on the committee’s agenda.

“The members of the team will be notified in the council. Their recommendations will be sent to the government in six months, so that the redrawn city comes into effect in October 2011 when the next local body elections are scheduled,” said an official.
In all, areas under nine municipalities, eight town panchayats and 25 village panchayats in neighbouring Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts are to be merged with the present city to create ‘Greater Chennai’.

According to sources, the Corporation is likely to redraw boundaries of all the existing civic wards and zones, besides adding more in the outlying areas, as part of the expansion plan. Currently, the size of the wards varies widely, some spanning barely 10 streets and others twice that. Redrawing of the boundaries would be aimed at ensuring more uniformity. According to sources, the number of wards is likely to go up from 155 to 175 at the end of the exercise, with a population of 40,000 to 50,000 in each.