CM to visit KDMC villages next month

June 8: Chief Minister Manohar Joshi will visit the 27 villages near Kalyan who have been protesting against their inclusion in the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) next month, and decide on which villages to exclude. Villagers of the 27 villages want their own gram panchayats as they fear that the KDMC will not help them to develop. The villagers had boycotted the last two Lok Sabha elections and two Assembly elections to press their demands.

Joshi today had a meeting in Mantralaya with his deputy Gopinath Munde, Labour minister Shabir Sheikh, Minister of State for Urban Development Ravindra Mane, representatives of KDMC, and other high ranking state government officials. It was decided that Joshi will tour the villages sometime in July and decide on their fate.

The KDMC was formed about 13 years back after the amalgamation of municipal councils of Kalyan, Dombivli, Ulhasnagar and Ambarnath. However, after strong protests, Ulhasnagar and Ambarnath were given independent municipal corporationstatus. The 27 villages were never part of any of the councils, but were still included in the KDMC.