Govt plans to merge 2 UTs: Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli

PTI, Nov 26, 2019, 3:39 PM IST

New  Delhi: The government introduced a bill in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday to merge two Union Territories Daman and Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli into one. The move comes three months after Jammu and Kashmir was bifurcated into two UTs — Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

The bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha by Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy.

The move comes three months after Jammu and Kashmir was divided into two UTs — Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

On November 22, Officials said the merger of the two UTs, located along the western coast near Gujarat, will be done for better administration and check duplications of various work.

So far, both the UTs have separate budgets and different secretariats even though they are just 35 km apart.

Dadra and Nagar Haveli has just one district while Daman and Diu has two.

The merged UT is likely to be named as Dadra, Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, and its headquarters could be Daman and Diu.

On August 5, the central government had announced the abrogation of the special status given to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 and its bifurcation into two UTs.

The country currently has nine UTs after the creation of the UTs of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. However, with the merger of Daman and Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, the number of UTs will come down to eight.