CHENNAI: Giving enough indication that the expansion of Chennai Corporation by merging 42 adjacent local bodies is imminent, the historic civic body has hosted a meeting for top officials from all the to-be-annexed local bodies for drafting ward-wise electoral rolls.Speaking to City Express, D Karthikeyan, Commissioner of the City Corporation, said, “A high-level meeting for block development officers, executive officers and municipal officials from the 42 local bodies with the Chennai Corporation was held on Monday to draft a ward-based electoral rolls.” This was the first meeting with the officials from those to-be-annexed local bodies and more meetings would be conducted in coming weeks, Karthikeyan said.According to official sources, the meeting held at the Corporation premises was to finalise and prepare ward-wise draft electoral rolls for the forthcoming local body election. While not commenting anything on the status of proposed expansion, Karthikeyan told City Express that the preparation of draft electoral rolls was preliminary and the state government has the ultimate authority to say anything on the expansion.A detailed database (on CD format) containing the latest population details and number of voters living in the 42 local bodies has been already distributed to the officials concerned and they have been asked to process the data to finalise the voters list.The new City Corporation would be having 200 wards with 18 zones. At present, it has 155 wards and 10 zones. A village panchayat, Idayanchavadi in Minjur limit, would be the entry point on the northern side while Uthandi village panchayat on East Coast Road would be its boundary on the southern side.In December 2009, the state government had issued a notification to annex 42 local bodies, including nine municipalities, eight town panchayats and 25 village panchayats to expand the city limit from the existing 174 sq km to 426 sq km. The notification also gave six months time to a team of officials at the Chennai Corporation to submit its report on the proposed expansion to the government.The Municipalities that would be merged with the Chennai Corporation are Kathivakkam, Thiruvottiyur and Manali in the north, Madhavaram, Ambattur, Maduravoyal and Valsaravakkam in the west, and Alandur and Ullagaram-Puzhuthivakkam in the south.The Town Panchayats that would be brought into the city limits are: Chinna Sekkadu, Puzhal, Porur, Nandambakkam, Meenambakkam, Perungudi, Pallikaranai and Chozhinganallur.A total of 25 village panchayats will also be part of the greater Chennai: Idayanchavadi, Sadayankuppam, Kadapakkam, Theeyambakkam, Mathur, Vadaperumbakkam, Surapet, Kadirvedu, Puthagaram, Nolambur, Kaarambakkam, Nerkundram, Ramapuram, Mugalivakkam, Manapakkam, Kottivakkam, Palavakkam, Neelankarai, Injambakkam, Karapakkam, Okkiyam-Thoraipakkam, Madipakkam, Jalladampettai, Semmenchery and Uthandi.
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