Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh): The Mayor-in-Council (MiC) is learnt to have been working on a plan to expand the limits of Ujjain Municipal Corporation (UMC) to give representation to more and more people. If everything goes well, UMC limits will have 60 wards.
Presently there are 54 wards under UMC limit which starts from Abukhana in Bhairavgarh and goes to Hamukhedi, Malanvasa, Shankarpura and Khilchipur.
Mayor Mukesh Tatwal said that preparations were being made for delimitation. This proposal can be brought soon to MiC and UMC Council, he indicated.
The last UMC delimitation took place in 2011. At that time the number of wards was not increased but some villages were included in the city limits and the boundaries of the wards were increased.
In the last 12 years, Ujjain city has expanded rapidly. Especially on Indore Road, Dewas Road, Maksi Road, Kanipura Road and Agar Road. In such a situation, many new colonies have developed in these areas. Many of these come under the purview of gram panchayats.
Due to the existence of colonies in the limits of the village panchayats, the UMC cannot do development work there, nor can it provide any facility. People living in these colonies are middle class or upper class and they want facilities from UMC instead of village panchayat. In such a situation, increasing the UMC limits is under consideration.
The UMC council will pass a proposal to increase the city limits and send it to the Urban Administration Department which will examine the proposal and if the proposal is found correct a new delimitation will be done.
Experts say, the new delimitation will benefit the UMC financially by way of fees for passing maps for new residential and commercial buildings that would come up in these areas. Similarly, the UMC will also get a lot of income from property tax. There will also be political benefits from delimitation. With the formation of six wards, six new people’s representatives will be elected and this will be helpful in increasing political power, opined experts.
