Varanasi: Under new delimitation, not only the areas of Ramnagar Palika Parishad and Sujabad Nagar Panchayat of trans-Ganga have been merged but also 87 villages have come under the limits of the Varanasi Municipal Corporation.
Now these villages will also start getting the basic infrastructure and other facilities on the lines of urban areas. However, with the increased number of voters and area the delimitation has made the campaigning tougher, especially for the candidates in the fray for mayoral election.
With the end of the nomination process and issuance of the final list of candidates with their symbols, TOI tried to take stock of the developments in Kashi’s urban local bodies, especially VMC, between 2017 and 2023. On being contacted on Monday, assistant municipal commissioner Amit Shukla said, “In 2017, VMC had 90 wards all in sis-Ganga areas. Expansion of VMC limit by merging villages and also two ULBs including Ramnagar Palika Parishad and Sujabad Nagar Panchayat of trans-Ganga took place in three phases between 2019 and 2022.”
Following these developments the total number of wards in VMC has reached to 100, said Shukla adding, except for 10 wards, the area and number of localities of other 90 wards has changed. Ramnagar Palika Parishad lost its existence and areas under its limit were divided in three wards while areas of Sujabad Nagar Panchayat became one ward of VMC.
Regarding changes in statistics of voters, assistant district election officer SN Singh said that the number of voters in 100 wards of VMC has become 16,07,705 including around 7.30 lakh women. As per the records of 2017, the total number of voters is 10.64 lakh in 90 wards.
The merger of Ramnagar Palika Parishad and Sujabad Nagar Panchayat has not only increased the number of wards and voters in VMC but its area has also expanded from 82 square kilometre to 160 square kilometre, said Shukla.
Though many of the villages that had been merged with the VMC had already witnessed mushrooming of residential colonies and markets in past decades, they lacked many facilities especially of sewage and drainage. The residents of these areas as well as officials said that now the rural areas merged in the VMC limit will also start getting basic infrastructure on the lines of the city.
Now these villages will also start getting the basic infrastructure and other facilities on the lines of urban areas. However, with the increased number of voters and area the delimitation has made the campaigning tougher, especially for the candidates in the fray for mayoral election.
With the end of the nomination process and issuance of the final list of candidates with their symbols, TOI tried to take stock of the developments in Kashi’s urban local bodies, especially VMC, between 2017 and 2023. On being contacted on Monday, assistant municipal commissioner Amit Shukla said, “In 2017, VMC had 90 wards all in sis-Ganga areas. Expansion of VMC limit by merging villages and also two ULBs including Ramnagar Palika Parishad and Sujabad Nagar Panchayat of trans-Ganga took place in three phases between 2019 and 2022.”
Following these developments the total number of wards in VMC has reached to 100, said Shukla adding, except for 10 wards, the area and number of localities of other 90 wards has changed. Ramnagar Palika Parishad lost its existence and areas under its limit were divided in three wards while areas of Sujabad Nagar Panchayat became one ward of VMC.
Regarding changes in statistics of voters, assistant district election officer SN Singh said that the number of voters in 100 wards of VMC has become 16,07,705 including around 7.30 lakh women. As per the records of 2017, the total number of voters is 10.64 lakh in 90 wards.
The merger of Ramnagar Palika Parishad and Sujabad Nagar Panchayat has not only increased the number of wards and voters in VMC but its area has also expanded from 82 square kilometre to 160 square kilometre, said Shukla.
Though many of the villages that had been merged with the VMC had already witnessed mushrooming of residential colonies and markets in past decades, they lacked many facilities especially of sewage and drainage. The residents of these areas as well as officials said that now the rural areas merged in the VMC limit will also start getting basic infrastructure on the lines of the city.