CHENNAI: 8 new zones in mega civic body

Published Date: 28/1/2010
By G Saravanan

Chennai, January 27: WITH the task of planning new divisions (wards) and zones in the proposed greater Chennai Corporation gaining pace, the committees set up for the process have zeroed in on eight new zones for the mega civic body.

Besides the existing 10 zones in the civic body from Tondiarpet to Thiruvanmiyur, different committees after series of discussions at the Ripon Building have decided to create eight more zones — Thiruvottiyur, Manali, Madhavaram, Ambattur, Porur or Valsaravakkam, Alandur, Perungudi or Pallikaranai and Sholinganallur — to cope with the effective management.

The proposed new zones wo uld annexe the adjacent village and town panc hayats. Wh ile the names of new zones are in its final stages, creation of new wards are gaining momentum.

Though the government order issued for the creation of mega civic body suggests that wards can be drawn on population pattern, it is learnt that the committees are in the opinion to limit the yardstick to thickly populated areas alone and it can’t be employed arbitrarily on the to-be annexed local bodies since their density differs from one to other.

For example, most village panchayats have less than 5,000 population and accumulating them into a single civic body ward on population pattern (say of 50,000 population as one ward) would not be a wise decision.

Since the move would diminish their representations at Ripon Building and council meetings, it is learnt that the committees have planned to take consideration of their size of land areas. Also, the revenue officials have sent detailed letters to the to-be-annexed local bodies seeking their financial conditions to draw comprehensive revenue pool structure.