Notification on new wards today

Urban Development Principal Secretary D Thangaraj told reporters in Bangalore that the notification will be issued on Tuesday.

The government’s move to provide only a week’s time is a deviation from the normally followed procedure wherein the public are given thirty days or at least 15 days to file their objections or suggestions. The government on June 4 issued a circular curtailing the time limit for objections to seven days.

In fact, when the State government issued a draft notification increasing the number of wards of the BBMP to 147 from 100 in August 2008, it had awarded 30 days time for the public to file objections.

However, for the government it’s a race against time to complete the BBMP election process by July 31 and fulfil an undertaking given to the Karnataka High Court.

Thangaraj said the government will issue the final notification seven days after the last date for receiving objections. The reservation of wards will be finalised three days after the issue of final notification, he added.

Thangaraj said each ward has been carved out with an average population of 30,000 (plus or minus 20 per cent).

According to sources, even if the government begins the process of delimitation, it may not be able to hold the elections within July end. “At the most the government will tell the court that it has begun the process and seek more time to conduct the poll. The monsoon has already begun and City will receive heavy rains in the next two months,” an officer said.