State government approves merger of 23 areas in Pune civic body
Once these areas, which are newly emerged hotspots for real estate given the cheap land prices, are part of PMC limits, the city’s boundary will increase substantially from 331 square km to 485 square km
Days after the urban development department sought an impact report from the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) regarding the inclusion of 23 areas – originally villages surrounding Pune – into Pune city limits, the state government has finally given its nod for the merger.
Once these areas, which are newly emerged hotspots for real estate given the cheap land prices, are part of Pune Municipal Corporation limits, the city’s boundary will increase substantially from 331 square km to 485 square km.
Minister for urban development Eknath Shinde on Tuesday signed an order, paving the way for the merger.
Nationalist Congress Party’s city unit president and MLA Chetan Tupe while confirming the development said, that with the order in place, the merger of these areas into Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) limits will soon begin.
“Minister Eknath Shinde has signed the proposal for merging 23 villages in the PMC. Deputy chief minister and Pune district guardian minister Ajit Pawar has been aggressive about merging these villages into the PMC limits. As the minister has given the nod, the Urban Development Department will make a public resolution for it by completing the administrative process soon,” said Tupe, who also heads the NCP city unit.
These 34 areas were scheduled to merge in the city in 2014 though political controversy stopped their inclusion. In 2017, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led government in the state finally facilitated merger of only 11 villages in the PMC limit and promised to merge, the other 23 villages in a phase-wise manner.
The move of the merger assumes significance for the NCP and Congress given that these two parties have political control over these areas, which will help them during the 2022 civic polls. As the municipal elections are slated in early 2022, Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has expedited merger of these villages in PMC before the elections.
A senior official from PMC said merging these areas into PMC is good. “It would help start proper development of these villages. Though they are part of the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA), they did not have enough machinery to carry out the development process,” said the official requesting anonymity.
This officer said that while taking the decision on the merger, the state government must give funds to the PMC to erect basis infrastructure like road, waterlines, drainage and electricity.