With an aim to control illegal constructions and execute proper planning of the 11 villages recently merged into thePune Municipal Corporation (PMC) limits, the state government on Tuesday issued an order to apply PMC’s development control rules (DCR) to the villages.

“With the implementation of the DCR, henceforth, all the constructions in these 11 villages will have to abide to the guidelines of the PMC. Any development or redevelopment of a project will have to be sanctioned by the PMC commissioner,” said a PMC official, requesting anonymity.

In February 2017, the state government merged Lohegaon (Shivne-Uttamnagar (88 %), Shivane, Mundwa, Hadapsar-Sade, Satara Nali, Ambegaon Khurd , Undri , Ddhayari , Ambegaon Budruk , Uruli Devachi and Fursungi within the PMC.

Stressing the need of the DCR for the merged villages, Prashant Waghmare, city engineer PMC said, “State’s decision to implement the DCR guidelines shall be welcomed. They are must for the development of the area.”

He further added, “The 11 villages that were merged within PMC do not have a development plan. However, now that the state government has issued the DCR, we will immediately start basic development.”

According to the statistics given by the PMC, more than 50 per cent of the merged villages are unplanned.

The merger increases the PMC area from 250.64 sq km to 331 sq km. Population of the 11 villages is 2.78 lakh. Many of the areas merged lack basic amenities such as roads and water. In a series published by HT highlighting the inconvenience being faced by the locals, residents said they want PMC to pay urgent attention to these areas.