After Joka I and Joka II panchayats been merged with the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), the Trinamul Congress-led civic board is in the process of cutting a slice out of Maheshtala municipality and take it back in its jurisdiction.
This is being done to rectify the mistake committed by the previous Left Front government as the Left Front-ruled civic board had included Jadavpur, Behala and Garden Reach into its jurisdiction but had left a small part with the neighbouring civic body in South 24 Parganas district.
The present Trinamul Congress-led civic body has already initiated the process and a slice of Maheshtala would come under the KMC after the state government notifies the matter in the gazette.
According to documents, mayor Sovan Chatterjee is of the view that a considerable area of wards 128, 129 and 131 — in and around Behala — were not included in Schedule I of the KMC Act due to a mistake and such an anomaly has to be rectified immediately. Schedule I of the KMC Act deals with boundary of areas under the jurisdiction of KMC and Schedule II of the Act deals with the specific boundary lines of all the wards under the civic jurisdiction.
Following the civic plans, certain plots under the Parui and Gopalpur mouzas, currently under Maheshtala municipality, would be included in the KMC jurisdiction. Instead of creating another ward for the proposed areas, the civic board has decided to include the areas under the existing wards 128, 129 and 131 of Behala area. Meanwhile, for including the areas, schedules I and II of the KMC Act also needs to be amended. The proposal to include the areas has been already passed by the mayor’s council and a majority of the councillors during the monthly house proceedings. The civic body is now awaiting the final nod from the state government.
“It is a small portion that was left out due to a mistake during the mapping of areas. Therefore, we have decided to include the area under our jurisdiction,” Mr Chatterjee said.