N Corpn to remap admin zones

Plan to merge Sadar Paharganj with City areas, create Keshavpuram

North Delhi Municipal Corporation administrative structure will soon see a revamp. The civic body is all set to reorganise the administrative zones by rationalising the number of wards in all the six administrative zones. 

Corporation sources said the sub-committee constituted by North Delhi Mayor Mira Aggarwal for administrative reorganisation has finalised the draft proposal, which will be tabled before the House for approval soon. 

“While the sub-committee has proposed to continue with the provision of having six administrative zones, they have advised to merge Sadar Paharganj (SP) and city zones. The committee has also proposed creation of a new zone – Keshavpuram,” a senior corporation officer said. 

The proposal also emphasises reorganisation of the number of wards under each administrative zone to provide uniformity to all the zones. 

“Currently, there is no uniformity in the number of municipal wards across different zones. While Rohini zone has 34 wards, there are only seven wards in the city zone. It creates administrative imbalance,” an officer said.

The sub-committee has proposed to reduce the wards in Rohini from 34 to 18. Similarly, the number of wards will be rationalised in all the other zones. (See box). 

The proposal is likely to be approved by the House as the sub-committee had members from the opposition Congress as well.

While the sub-committee was chaired by deputy mayor Azad Singh, it included leader of House Mahendra Nagpal, standing committee chairman Yogendra Chandolia, deputy chairman V P Pandey and leader of opposition Mukesh Goel among others.  

However, sources said the decision is likely to create some ripples in the political corridors due to the merger of Sadar Paharganj and city zone.

“Out of the seven wards in City zone, four councillors are from Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). The current chairman of City zone, Alley Mohammad is from the RLD.

 After merger of the city zone and Sadar Paharganj zone, the equations might change as both the BJP and Congress will have five councillors each in the new zone,” an officer said.