The Times of India         20.11.2014  

4 more villages slated for merger with PMC

PUNE :
The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is certain to become the largest
civic body in terms of area after the law committee on Wednesday
approved a proposal to merge four more villages with the city’s limits.
Its geographical area will increase from the current 243.84 sq km to
over 500 sq km.

The four villages are Vadaki, Sanaswadi,
Avhalwadi and Sanasnagar located on the Pune-Solapur and Pune-Ahmednagar
highways. The proposal will go to the general body and then to the
state government before an official merger.

The final process
for including 34 fringe villages in the civic limits had started in May
2014 with the state government issuing an official merger notification.
According to the notification, issued by the state urban development
department then; 34 villages located along the fringe areas of Pune will
be brought in the municipal folds.

After the approval at the
law committee, Vadaki, Sanaswadi, Avhalwadi and Sanasnagar have cleared
first step for becoming the part of PMC. These villages are located
around Pune Solapur highway and Pune- Ahemadnagar highway. The The
proposal will go to GB and then to state government before official
getting merged.

“These four villages were left out of the
process, so we decided to include them with the corporation’s limits,”
said Ashwini Jadhav, head of the law committee. Some MNS corporators
opposed the merger which was supported by the Shiv Sena, BJP, NCP and
Congress.

Some elected members have said that while considering
the merger, issues about illegal constructions can crop up. The civic
administration should consider making rules and regulations to deal with
illegal constructions in these villages, they said.

The
proposal states that building permissions given to developers in these
villages should be cancelled and constructions allowed on amenity spaces
should be halted. The same rules and regulations will be applicable for
the new four villages, it said.