29 villages excluded from Vasai-Virar civic body

We are thankfull to all members of Vasai Jan Andolan Samiti, All Sanghatnas, Political Parties who have participated and supported us till the end agitation. We are also thankful to all the MLA's, Opposition Leaders, Mantri's of varoius political parties & All Bureaucrats who have supported our MLA Vivek Pandit on all fronts in Vidhan Sabha.


The notification excluding 29 of the 53 villages in the Vasai taluka from the Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation (VVMC) has been issued by the state government. The villages are likely to have their panchayat elections after the monsoon.

The VVMC was formed on July 3, 2009 with the merger of four municipal councils of the region and 53 villages.

The Vasai Janandolan Samiti, an organization formed to fight for the villages, contested the first VVMC polls last year. They also voted and got elected former Shiv Sena leader Vivek Pandit as the MLA of the region. Last month Pandit led a march from Vasai to Vidhan Bhavan to put the exclusion on a fast track.

With the notification out, at least eight corporators, who were elected from the villages, will lose their seats. Most of them are women and belong to backward castes.

The villages have not seen much development in the last two years. "The villagers are happy to have saved their green belts. Gram panchayat elections may take two to three months," said president of Swabhimani Vasaikar Sanghatana Vijay Machado.

Civic officials, however, said many development projects were lined up for the villages. The VVMC had set aside a budget of Rs 40-50 crore for the development of infrastructure in the villages.

The villages which have been included in the VVMC are close to urbanization.

Civic sources said that development of villages within municipal limits will be taken up on a priority basis. The 20 villages that could not be removed from the municipality are unhappy with the samiti.

Swabhimani Vasaikar Sanghtana....