Even after being merged into the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) for years, the problems of the merged villages are still not solved. The residents haven’t seen much development because there is no Draft Development Plan (DP) for these areas.
Now, with the Maharashtra state government scrapping the DP prepared by the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA), the situation for these merged villages is still going to be the same. The development is also likely to impact Pune Ring Road project and Town Planning (TP) schemes.
According to a report by HT, the DP process took PMRDA eight years and involved 6,000 consultations.
The draft was released on July 30, 2021, and people were invited to share their objections and suggestions. About 69,200 citizens responded. After that, an expert committee held hearings from March 2, 2022, to December 2022 to finalize the process.
Issues Faced by Merged Villages
Residents of the merged villages, who are required to pay high taxes, have been voicing concerns, particularly regarding water supply. In 2021, when 23 new villages were added to PMC's jurisdiction, the civic body became the largest in the state, even though it was struggling to meet the water demands of the previously merged 11 villages.
This year, as PMC failed to ensure access to safe drinking water, residents had to rely on tankers in Pune. Notably, the outbreak of Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS), a rare neurological disorder, was traced back to the merged villages of Dhayari, Khadakwasla, Kirkitwadi, and Nanded City.
