Chakan,Rajgurunagar likely to get council status

The clamour for inclusion of Chakan and Rajgurunagar under the municipal council has been growing due to rapid industrialisation of the area and the proposed airport plan. “The gram panchayats passed the resolution,followed by the panchayat samitis and zilla parishad in the favour of the municipal council which will be better equipped to monitor the areas,” said Patil.

For an area to get the status of a municipal council,its population should be more than 15,000. “Chakan and Rajgurunagar fulfill the criteria. They have a population over 40,000,” said a district administration official.

Nitin Gadade-Patil,a resident,said the decision should be taken soon. “The airport and huge industrialisation in the area cannot be managed by gram panchayats anymore. We need to have a municipal council,” said Patil.

Welcoming the move,former town planner Ramchandra Gohad said,“The areas have large-scale industrialisation. It should take a maximum of two years but if the government wants it can award the change in status even within six months under the Maharashtra Regional Town Planning Act. The same was done for Pimpri-Chinchwad and it was done within two years. Such decisions should be taken soon. It should be done before the airport comes in place.” Patil said the issue was also discussed with Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan. “He had suggested that it should be done through proper procedure through the district administration.”