RAMANATH JHA writes for ORF: The rapid urbanisation in villages on city peripheries repeatedly compels state governments to merge such peri-urban areas into the neighbouring urban local bodies (ULB). This becomes necessary because of the inability of rural laws to guide urbanisation to unfold in a sustainable manner. The merger of these areas in a ULB brings them within the processes of urban development. A master plan or development plan for these areas would get drawn up. Furthermore, development control regulations of the ULB would become applicable for construction; economic and commercial growth; environment and quality of life benchmarks in terms of roads, water, sewerage, public transportation, education, health, gardens, recreation, and other amenities that a city requires. The process of the merger takes time, since it requires consultation with the concerned villages, the ULB, and the state’s rural and urban development departments. The timing of the merger may be dictated by political calculations as the ruling dispensation weighs in on the likely prospects of electoral gains and losses. However, the overall compulsions of urbanisation generally lead to a merger.
go to ORF website: Merging villages into cities: More unfunded mandate | ORF (orfonline.org)
