A section of residents and civic activists on Friday pointed out that the Greater Chennai Corporation should take steps to improve awareness among people about civic participation.

The Corporation on Thursday announced that the delimitation of all the area sabhas in the city had been completed and it had been notified in Chennai District Gazette.

An interesting feature is the inclusion of GIS maps of every ward that could make it easier for citizens.

The gazette document contains details of the area sabhas and their corresponding streets and apartments in all of the wards. Residents complained that this had resulted in it being lengthy and hard to peruse.

B. Jaishankar, a member of the Valmiki Nagar Residents’ Association, says: “Our association covers First, Second, Third and Fourth Seaward Roads but due to the delimitation, first, second and third are in one sabha and four in another. This interferes with our activities and concerns as an association.”

“The councillor for Ward 174 made no effort to reach out to us regarding area sabhas,” said T.D. Babu, founder of SPARK. He sought more transparency in the area sabhas.

Earlier this month, Voice of People, an NGO that produced an educational booklet on area sabhas, met Mayor R. Priya and submitted a petition urging the Corporation to conduct awareness campaigns on area sabhas. The voluntary organisation said the Mayor agreed to their suggestion.

V. Rajagopal, a resident of Anna Nagar West Extension, said the Corporation could do more to make citizens aware through its social media platform and that he only received the document through a friend. “There are many ways in which the government can reach out to the citizens but it is always we who take the first step,” said another resident Jaishankar. 

One of the common suggestions was the Corporation could reach out to citizens through SMS and intimate them about area sabhas and their delimitations.

“Citizens are welcome to raise any objection they might have which will be considered based on the merit,” said Vishu Mahajan, GCC Deputy Commissioner (Revenue and Finance). Mr. Mahajan said that delimitation was a standard administrative procedure.