Taking into account the upcoming Municipal election in February 2018, the ward councilors, including Deputy Mayor, Sanjiv Vijayawargia have countered the newly formulated delimitation proposal drafted by the State Government recently. During the Board meeting on Saturday, the members unanimously rejected the delimitation plan.
The Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) will send a letter to the District Election Officer besides, the Department of Urban Development and planning to withdraw the delimitation plan.
Considering several hitches that have aroused after the delimitation proposal, the ward councilors during the meeting opined that instead of limiting the wards number from 55 to 53, the State Government should follow the existing setup without any alteration.
The Deputy Mayor supporting the views of the ward councilors cited that the delimitation plan will not just create confusion among the city residents but will also stir up uncertainty in getting certificates while increasing the hurdles of the elected representatives. Considering different factors, some ward councilors also said that the delimitation decision taken in the wake of 2011 census cannot be applied in 2017.
“The change in demography will severely affect the upcoming election. Interestingly, only twice Municipal elections have been conducted which witnessed very low voting percentage. According to the records, in 1985 approximately 32 percent people had cast their votes while in 2008 around 28 per cent people voted to choose the ward councilors. Similarly, only 18 per cent people turned out to vote to elect the Mayor,” said Vijayawargia.
Intervening into the matter, Mayor Asha lakra has said that in a bid to avoid further disorder, a requisition letter will be dispatched on August 27 citing all valid reasons to call off the delimitation plan. lakra further added that without creating much upheaval, we must consider the State Government orders that have given 15 days time to the city residents to register their grievances, suggestions etc.
Notably, the newly drafted delimitation proposal has been chalked out considering Jharkhand Municipal Corporation Act. However, both the elected representatives have stated that no consent has been ever taken from the RMC officials or the ward councilors before finalising the draft.
On the other hand, taking up other prominent civic issues, several ward councilors termed the enforcement team members’ approach as ‘Dictatorial’, the ward councilors have demanded to either dissolve the enforcement committee cell or to first notify the defaulters instead of directly penalising them.
In view of the grievances received from the ward councilors, Municipal Commissioner, Shantanu Kumar Agrahari has assured action against enforcement cell members. “The provision of penalising the defaulters on the spot will be stopped from now onwards. The Municipal Corporation will first make announcement and warn the defaulters, if in case no action is taken, then the enforcement cell members will penalise the defaulters,” said Agrahari.
The Mayor has asked to keep aside the fine amount issue and only after the undisputed decision of the Board, penalty amount will be fixed for the defaulters. At present, Rs 2000 is incurred upon the defaulters. The Municipal Commissioner has also clarified that only after the approval from the committee members constituted to investigate the issue; the enforcement cell can be dissolved.