Merger of Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota municipal bodies soon: Rajasthan minister

JAIPUR: State govt will soon start the process for merging municipal corporations in Jaipur, Jodhpur, and Kota, said urban development and housing (UDH) minister Jhabar Singh Kharra on Sunday.

Speaking to TOI, Kharra said it was a poll promise of BJP to merge the two civic bodies in each of the three cities. Civic polls in these cities are scheduled to take place during the winter of 2025-26, and the govt will start the merger process accordingly, he said.

"We are hopeful of notifying the mergers of the corporations by the middle of 2025, at least four to five months before the polls," Kharra said.

Officials from UDH and local self-government (LSG) departments said that besides the merger of the civic bodies, the govt also wants to delimit boundaries of the wards of these six municipal corporations in the three cities.

"The govt plans to complete the draft of the delimitation plan by early next year and seek suggestions on the proposals. After that it will notify the delimitation. It is expected that along with the delimitation, the govt will also notify the mergers," an official said.

Puneet Karnawat, deputy mayor of Jaipur Municipal Corporation-Greater, said that delimitation was essential because the state BJP leadership feels the previous govt carried out the delimitation keeping in mind Congress-dominated areas.

"For example, at least 22 wards out of the 100 in JMC-Heritage, comprising very small areas, have been carved out intentionally to ensure the victory of Congress candidates. On the other hand, there are wards that are unnecessarily bigger in size. Such an ill-balanced layout has immensely affected the day-to-day activities of the civic body. We want a more logical delimitation of wards this time," Karnawat said.


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