Sunday, 25 AUGUST 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) has received about 230 objections regarding the recent delimitation of wards within the city. The deadline for submitting these objections ended on Friday. The corporation will accept no objections in this regard from now, the additional municipal commissioner Gopal Ram Binwal said. Talking about the objections raised from people across the city, Binwal said that the highest number of objections came from residents of the Rajpur and Dharampur assembly constituencies. In contrast, fewer objections were recorded from the Mussoorie, Cantonment and Sahaspur constituencies. Binwal added that a meeting is scheduled for Saturday under the chairmanship of the Dehradun district magistrate Sonika which will be joined by the MCD municipal commissioner Gaurav Kumar and officials from other departments concerned. All officials will review the public’s objections and decide on the next steps regarding the delimitation process. It is pertinent to mention here that the whole process is part of the ongoing delimitation process ahead of the upcoming municipal elections. The delimitation of wards in Dehradun was initially ordered in July 2022 and it was concluded by October last year. However, upon receiving the delimitation report submitted by the MCD through the DM, the State administration identified numerous irregularities. Some wards were reportedly found to have voter numbers significantly below or above the standard range. Several people also raised concerns about the accuracy of the delimitation report, including Dehradun councillors. Considering this, the State administration returned the report and directed the DM to present a new updated report earlier this month. Sonika subsequently instructed the MCD to draft a new report in compliance with established guidelines. The municipal elections are expected to be held in October. Many outgoing councillors opined that since no census was done after 2011, it might cause problems to the officials concerned in ensuring the apt delimitation process in Dehradun. Some even claimed that it is very unlikely that the municipal election will be held in October as per the new delimitation report which is being prepared by the administration.
