Pune is now a city with the largest geographical area in India

Pune officially became the city with the largest geographical area of 516.18 sq km in Maharashtra after the state government issued an order to include 23 new villages in the existing city limits by extending the boundaries of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). The PMC will now have 516.18 sq km of a geographical area, replacing the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which has 440 sq km area. Pune also becomes the seventh-largest city in the country with the new urban limits. The PMC has an estimated budget of Rs 8,370 crore for 2021-22, as compared to the BMC budget of Rs 39,038 crore. The State Urban Development department had issued a notification announcing its intention to extend PMC boundaries to include the new areas on December 23 last year. The state government has considered the objections and suggestions received to the notification according to the order. The government has decided to alter the limits of the civic body. The 23 adjoining villages merged in PMC limits are Mahalunge, Sus, Kirkatwadi, Kondhwe-Dhawade, Bavdhan Budruk, Kopre, Nanded, Khadakwasla, Pisoli, Narhe, Holkarwadi, Autade-Handewadi, Wadachiwadi, Shewalewadi, Nandoshi, Manjari Budhruk, Sanasnagar, Mangdewadi, Bhilarewadi, Wagholi, Jambhulwadi, Kolewadi and Gujar Nimbalkarwadi. The state government had first declared its intention to include 34 villages in PMC boundaries in 2014 but the process was delayed, and only 11 villages were merged in the PMC limits, that too after the Bombay High Court intervention in 2017. In 2014, the PMC had estimated that it would need Rs 5,741 crore to carry out basic development work in these 34 villages. Image Source Also read: Smart City scheme: Aurangabad on the verge of modernisation Also read: GMDA publishes final draft for Gurugram’s liveability index