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With floating population swelling, Nainital pins hopes on civic body polls for end to woes
The end to reservation will throw the contest for the Nainital municipality chairperson post wide open, and voters will get a wider choice to elect an experienced person who can solve civic problems of the hill station, a cross-section of people said.
The end to reservation will throw the contest for the Nainital municipality chairperson post wide open, and voters will get a wider choice to elect an experienced person who can solve civic problems of the hill station, a cross-section of people said.
The chairperson post remained reserved for scheduled castes for five years. Ahead of civic polls, a government notification put it in the general category.
“When the post was reserved for the scheduled caste category, the number of people who could contest the municipality chairperson poll was limited,” said Rajendra Pargain, a member of the district consumer forum.
“Now more people could fight for heading the civic body. This will give voters a wide choice to choose an experienced person who could work efficiently, develop consensus on pressing issues, and solve civic problems the small hill station is beset with,” Pargain said, adding that he would contest for the post.
After the terms of the elected representatives of urban local bodies in Uttarakhand came to an end on May 4, district magistrates have taken over as their administrators till fresh elections are held. Polls are scheduled to be held in 86 of the 92 municipal bodies in the state.
Congress’s Haldwani block president Bhola Bhatt had filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Uttarakhand high court against the government’s notification for expansion of urban local bodies and delimitation of wards. The civic polls in the state were scheduled for April, but HC quashed the government’s order for expansion of local bodies in March. The court is likely to announce its decision on the urban civic polls on May 8.
According to local people, around two dozen candidates are likely to contest for the chairperson’s post. Nainital Taxi Travel Association president Neeraj Joshi said he would contest as the post was now open for the general category.
“Nainital is a small place and there are a lot people here, especially with the addition of the floating population. This has put pressure on the local resources and created civic problems, whether it is related to water supply, traffic management, parking issues or the new constructions,” said Joshi.
“If I become the chairperson of the local civic body, we will resolve these issues with the active engagement of all stakeholders.”
The 2011 Census report put the Nainital city population at 41,377. The population grew to around 50,000 by 2015, according to a study. Being one of the most popular tourist destinations in the state, the hill town hosts a floating population of approximately 150,000 people during the peak tourist season in the summer.
The civic amenities have not been adequately improved in Nainital to meet the demands of a swelling population. Water rationing was introduced in December last year to save Naini lake – the main source of water for the tourist town.
Prayag Pande, a journalist and an author of two books on Nainital, said the hill town had one of the oldest civic bodies in the state, set up during 1845-50.
He said the Nainital municipal committee was officially set up on October 3, 1850, making it the first such committee in the former north-western provinces, an administrative region in the British India.
“Though the civic institution in the hill station has a history of over a century and a half, it continues to face challenges with the changing demographics over the decades and the addition of floating population, especially after the high court was set up here,” Pande said.
