Kerala - Kozhikode   

City Corporation considering proposal to extend boundaries

KOZHIKODE: The State government is considering a proposal to extend the boundaries of the city Corporation by including a few nearby grama panchayats to the civic body.

Sources told The Hindu here on Thursday that the proposal was to include Elathur grama panchayat in the north, Beypore in the west, Nallalam-Cheruvannur in the South and portions of Feroke and Olavanna grama panchayats. The Kozhikode Corporation has already submitted a proposal in this regard.

Some of these grama pachayats are already urbanised and depend on the city as well as contribute to the revenue of the Corporation.

The notification reconstituting the wards of these local bodies will be issued within a year if the proposal is approved by the State government and the Election Commission. All formalities for the purpose have to be taken up before the next three-tier local body elections in September 2010.

Kozhikode Mayor M. Bhaskaran, who is optimistic that the proposal would get the necessary clearance, said urbanised Elathur had virtually become a part of the Corporation. Nallalam-Cheruvannur, on the outskirts of the city, had been developed an industrial area and Beypore, an existing fishing centre, would soon develop into a major fishing harbour and a well-established marine park.

The existing area of the Corporation is 84.23 sq. km. and the population is 4,36,400, as per the 2001 census. The extension of the boundaries will increase the area of the Corporation to over 120 sq. km. The other Corporations, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram, had extended their boundaries recently.

Another proposal under consideration is the creation of Feroke municipality by amalgamating the existing grama panchayat with the Ramanattukara and Kadalundi grama panchayats.

The city stands to gain if these proposals are implemented, by way of getting funds from the State and the Centre to improve infrastructure facilities and urban governance. Till now, the development of the city was based on the master plan envisaged by Rusi S. Khambatta, an architect from Bombay (Mumbai), in 1957.

Kerala Builders Forum Calicut chapter chairman Nityanand Kamath said the government should give utmost importance to the proposal considering the overall development of the region in future. Incidentally, the jurisdiction of the city police extends from Elathur to Ramanattukara.

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