Pune: Guardian Minister Girish Bapat will hold a meeting on Wednesday to discuss the issue of merger of 34 villages in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) limits. The officers of district administration and elected members have been invited for this meeting.

The High Court (HC) has directed the State government to decide on the proposed merger of 34 villages within three weeks. The HC has issued the ultimatum to the government for the second time. The Haveli Taluka Nagrik Kruti Samiti had moved the court through a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) on the issue. 

Against this backdrop, the State government has called the meeting on Wednesday in Mumbai. Bapat will head the meet.

The PMC’s general body had approved this proposal long ago, but the State government is not taking any decision on it. Hence, the samiti led by local leaders filed the PIL in the court.

The HC had instructed the State government to decide on the proposal. At that time, the government had sought time to study the proposal. Hence, the court asked the government to decide on the issue within three weeks.

The meeting headed by Bapat will brief the chief minister about the fate of merger of these villages in the PMC.