28.5.14

Pune limits may expand


Pune’s boundaries are all set to expand further with the state government granting an in-principle approval to merge 34 fringe villages with the municipal limits.
The state has finalized a draft notification spelling out the merger plan, but it has been put on hold for clearance from the state election commission.
Sources said the election commission’s nod has been sought in view of the code of conduct for the graduate constituency elections. “If we get the approval from the election commission, the proposal will be tabled before the state cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
The cabinet is already in favour of the merger plan and hence we feel that the notification will come into effect very soon,” said a senior UD officer.
A top civic official too confirmed the development asserting that the merger will be effected as soon as the notification is approved by the cabinet.
The state government had, in October 2012, issued a notification asking the PMC to initiate the process to merge 28 fringe villages with the city.
After much debate and discussions, the general body had in November 2012, approved the merger. However, many elected members had then demanded that six more villages should be merged with the PMC. Hence, a separate proposal for merger of additional six villages was initiated by the general body in 2013.
Those in favour of the merger had argued that the move would ensure planned development of these fringe areas and will restrict the growth of illegal structures.
However, many experts had opined that the civic body must restrict its growth as it was putting additional burden on the civic infrastructure. They pointed out that the PMC’s geographical area will increase from the existing 243.84 sq km to over 500 sq km if these 234 villages are merged with it.
The expanded city will be bigger than the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which, as the largest civic body in the state, covers an area of 480.24 sq km. Mumbai opted for smaller corporations around it for better infrastructure management while the PMC is doing just the opposite, a town planning expert had said. Some of the villages had objected to the move. However, notwithstanding these objections, the civic body had approved the merger plan and had sent it to the state government for ratification.

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