Notices issued in PIL seeking municipal council status for Ghugus

Chandrapur: The Nagpur bench of Bombay high court has issued notices to state government and other respondents over a demand to grant municipal council status to Ghugus town. Petitioner Subhash Thengne, a citizen of Ghugus, has filed the PIL.
Ghugus is the largest industrial town in Chandrapur district with two large industries and a bunch of WCL coal mines in its surroundings. The town has population of around 60,000 and is probably the largest gram panchayat in the state with yearly revenue of over Rs1.5 crore. With rising population and urbanization, Ghugus gram panchayat had passed a resolution in 1988 seeking municipal council status for the town. Even 31 years later, political interests of those in power have left the issue of municipal status on the back burner, alleged petitioner Thengne.

He claimed that during Shiv Sena-BJP alliance regime, the then chief minister Manohar Joshi had publicly announced Ghugus would get the status of municipal council in the presence of the then MLA Sudhir Mungantiwar. Various social organizations and political parities undertook several agitation years after year for the demand, but in vain.

Raising Ghugus to the status of municipal council would lead to annulment of ZP seats and panchayat samiti seats from the area. This is one of the major reasons those in power had kept the issue pending, Thengne told TOI. He alleged that many smaller gram panchayats had gained municipal status but Ghugus was never considered.

Nagpur bench of Bombay high court has accepted the PIL and sought response in two weeks from urban development and rural development ministries, collector, SDO, tehsildar and others respondents.