In line with a Cabinet decision to carve out more urban bodies ahead of the local body elections, the State Delimitation Commission has published a draft report of the delimited wards in the newly constituted Piravom and Koothattukulam municipalities in the district.
As per the report, the number of wards in the Piravom municipality will be 27 as against the 17 wards in the panchayat here and the average population per ward is estimated to be 1,008. The total population of the municipality is 27,229, including 13,871 women.
The proposed municipality, which shares its boundaries with the Kottayam district and the panchayats of Pambakkuda, Maneed, Edakkattuvayal in Ernakulam, also has 1,813 Scheduled Castes and 63 Scheduled Tribes.
The recommendation to elevate Piravom, a special grade panchayat, into a municipality is seen as a restoration of its earlier status. The panchayat had been a municipality for a brief period of about two years before it was reverted to a panchayat in 1992.
The Koothattukulam municipality, to be established by upgrading the Koothattukulam panchayat, will have 25 wards as against the present 14 and 5,169 households in its limits. The average population per ward is 690 and the population of 1,72,253, including 8,869 women.
The number of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are 1,029 and 130 respectively.
The urban body shares its boundaries with the panchayats of Elanji, Thirumaaradi, Palakkuzha and the Kottayam district.
Like Piravom, Koothattukulam was also declared a municipality back in 1996. But the move had to be eventually dropped following protests over concerns of higher tax rates.
Alongside the municipalities, the authority has also released the draft report on the delimited wards on the 12 other local bodies and six newly constituted panchayats.
The six new panchayats that are coming up in the district are Arakkappady, Kuruppampady, Pattimattom, Mulavur, Thrikkariyur and Neriyamangalam.
The 12 panchayats undergoing the delimitation process are Vengola, Rayamangalam, Kunnathunadu, Payipra, Nellikkuzhy, Pindimana, Kottappady, Kavalangadu, Kuttampuzha, Amballur, Edakkattuvayal.
Complaints on the draft report can be submitted to the delimitation commission secretary or the District Election Officer before June 15.
