The Hindu 19.12.2013
Meet on merger of villages with BMC
Efforts are under way for merger of around 46 villages
on the periphery of the city into the Berhampur Municipal Corporation
(BMC) area.
Berhampur, the oldest municipality of the
state was elevated to a Municipal Corporation on Jan 1, 2009. As per
the gazette notification made for the purpose the boundary of the new
Municipal Corporation, it was to include 26 villages of 14 panchayats on
its periphery. Even after four years the boundary of the BMC has not
been redrawn. According to BMC authorities, as per the recent plans the
number of villages proposed to be included in the BMC has been increased
to 46. They are from panchayats adjoining the BMC area. When Cuttack
and Bhubaneswar urban bodies were elevated to Municipal Corporations,
more than 60 panchayats were merged with these urban bodies. But in case
of Berhampur similar action has been delayed.
The
Berhampur Sub-Collector convened a meeting to discuss the process to be
initiated. As per BMC officials the villages to be included are the ones
through which the proposed ring road for the city would pass. With the
inclusion of these new villages the population of the city would exceed
seven lakh and it would provide scope for planned development of the
city.
According to authorities, the number of villages proposed to be included in the BMC has been increased to 46.
