Kamal Nath Govt Proposes Bifurcation of Bhopal Municipal Corporation, BJP Says Congress Creating Divisions

Bhopal: The ruling Congress and opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are engaged in a fresh war of words over the proposed bifurcation of Bhopal's municipal limits.

Proposing two municipal corporations in Bhopal’s urban limits, district collector, Tarun Pithode, on Monday issued the draft proposal for bifurcation and invited suggestions and objections from the people, to be submitted by October 14.

As per the draft proposal, the Bhopal Municipal Corporation would be bifurcated into East and West with the Eastern Corporation having 31 wards and the Western Corporation having 54 wards.

With the BJP strongly opposing the idea, Law Minister, PC Sharma, claimed that bifurcation would ensure speedy development in the state capital.

Speaking to News18, Sharma said the proposed bifurcation will be helpful for rapid growth of rural areas. Delhi, Mumbai and other metro cities already have more than one municipal corporation, Sharma added.

The law minister further said the smaller wards will enable better control for the civic bodies and would ensure better amenities for the residents.

Praising Kamal Nath, Sharma said the Chief Minister has been working on the development agenda but with just one Municipal Corporation, the workload is immense, which is affecting the growth of the city. With two Municipal corporations, the workload would be divided and smaller wards would become convenient to manage, he added.

Commenting on the objections by the opposition, Sharma said the BJP opposes things just for the sake of it and accused the party of indulging in corruption and scams during its tenure of 15 years.

Bhopal mayor and senior BJP leader, Alok Sharma, categorically slammed the move, calling it a ploy for political gains. Questioning MP CM Kamal Nath on how he plans to bifurcate the city’s big and small drains, Alok Sharma accused the Congress of always working to create divisions.

Many people believe that the proposed bifurcation will lead to many practical issues in distribution of common services like trenching ground, potable water and so on.

With tenure of the municipal corporation set to expire in December, the state government is worried about the limited time available to implement the proposed bifurcation.