14 villages back in Navi Mumbai after 17-yr gap

14 villages on the border of Navi Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan are back under Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation after years of separation, aiding development with state grant support.

NAVI MUMBAI: Seventeen years after separating from Navi Mumbai, nine years after demanding a merger and one-and-half years after a draft notification, fourteen villages located on the border of Navi Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan are back within the fold of the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC). While the decision is expected to aid the development of the long-neglected area, the NMMC is hoping a grant from the state government will ease its financial burden.

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Located near Shilphata junction, the villages were included within Navi Mumbai when the NMMC was formed in 1991, and a corporator represented the locals in the civic body. In 2007, however, following a spate of violence, villagers claimed the NMMC was neglecting the area and separated from it.

While Navi Mumbai developed at a frantic pace, little work was undertaken in these villages, which fell under the jurisdiction of the local gram panchayat. In 2015, villagers under the aegis of the Chauda Gaon Sarv Pakshiya Vikas Samiti (CGSPVS) urged the state government to include them in the NMMC again. They also boycotted the gram panchayat elections to press on their demand.

In March 2022, when Eknath Shinde was the urban development minister in the MVA government, he announced the decision to merge the villages with the NMMC. Later, in September 2022, when he was the chief minister of the BJP-Shiv Sena government, he issued a draft notification for the merger, setting new boundaries for the NMMC.

There was little development on the matter for close to one-and-half years thereafter, though the CGSPVS followed up regularly with authorities. On Thursday, after the state government issued the final notification regarding the merger with Navi Mumbai, Shinde shared the same with the CGSPVS.

An elated Laxman Patil, president of CGSPVS, said, “We are thankful to chief minister Shinde for fulfilling our demand. For long, it seemed like the 25,000 people who live here were forgotten. But now our area too will develop like the neighbouring areas.”

Patil said gram panchayats can ill afford the funds required for infrastructure development in the area. “We will now follow up with the government to provide funds to the NMMC for developing roads, water supply lines, garbage and sewage disposal systems and other civic services, which are all in bad shape,” he said.

“We also want direct connectivity with Navi Mumbai via a tunnel through the hills, although we know that it will take time,” Patil added.

CGSPVS secretary Gurunath Patil said they had already placed the demand for additional funds for the NMMC before the government. “Action needs to be taken against encroachments on government land as well as unplanned development,” he said.

Villagers are hoping that houses constructed in gaothans will be regularised and health centres will be revived, he added.

Dnyaneshwar Yandarkar, secretary of CGSPVS, said the NMMC should take into their organisation into confidence and prepare a development plan for the 14 villages. “Those working in the gram panchayat should be absorbed by the NMMC. Sanitation workers and teachers who had worked in the NMMC when the villages were under it should also be taken back along with zilla parishad school teachers,” he said.

Municipal commissioner Rajesh Narvekar said they would study the notification and the guidelines of the state government on the merger before undertaking any work.

“A general body resolution passed by NMMC earlier had sought a government grant for the development of the area. That will have to be taken into account,” he said, adding that a clearer picture would emerge by next week, once they had all the information.

“The code of conduct (which would apply once election dates are announced) will prevent projects from being initiated. It will give us additional time for better planning,” said Narvekar.

A top political leader in the city, however, was critical of the decision to merge the villages with the NMMC. “This is nonsense. It will be a huge burden on Navi Mumbai to develop this region from scratch. There is bound to be opposition to this decision,” he said requesting anonymity.

Box: Crucial upgrade

The following 14 villages have been merged with the NMMC:

Dahisar

Mokashi

Walivali

Pimpri

Nighu

Navali

Waklan

Bamarli

Narivali

Bale

Nagaon

Bhandarli

Uttar Shiv

Goteghar