Panvel now Raigad’s first civic corporation

PANVEL: The country’s first municipal council in Panvel became a municipal corporation from Saturday. It is the state’s 27th and the Raigad district’s first municipal

PANVEL: The country’s first municipal council in Panvel became a municipal corporation from Saturday. It is the state’s 27th and the Raigad district’s first municipal corporation.

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It comprises areas under the Panvel municipal council — Panvel city and 29 villages.

On Saturday, Sudhakar Shinde from the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) took over as the municipal commissioner at the council headquarters. He had been posted as the deputy secretary at urban development department and will now be the administrator for PMC.

The CEO of the Panvel municipal council, Mangesh Chitale, has been appointed the deputy municipal commissioner.

All documents on the gram panchayats were submitted to the corporation . The gram panchayats have been dissolved and their areas are now under the municipal corporation. The offices and personnel of gram panchayat will be transferred to the corporation.

The Panvel municipal council was established on August 25, 1852, as the first municipal council in the country by the British. As the region developed, residents for the past 25 years had been demanding that it be converted into a municipal corporation.

On December 9, 2015, the government appointed a committee under the Konkan Divisional Commissioner to submit a report on the corporation’s formation. The committee submitted its report on May 6, 2016, following which the government initiated steps to issue a GR on the new corporation. According to its order, the Panvel Municipal Corporation (PMC) came into existence from October 1.

The PMC includes areas of Panvel municipal council, Taloja MIDC and Panvel taluka’s 29 revenue villages. Spread over 110 hectares, as per 2011 census, it will have a population of 5 lakh people.