Centre introduces bill to merge Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli in Lok Sabha

The government on Tuesday introduced in the Lok Sabha a Bill to merge two Union Territories – Daman and Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli – into one. The proposed legislation – The Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (Merger of Union Territories) Bill 2019 – 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.

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Reasons for the move

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 Union Territories 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 Union Territory is likely to be named as Dadra, Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu and its headquarters could be Daman and Diu.

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Number of UTs may come down to 8

On August 5, the central government had announced the abrogation of the special status given to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 and its division into two Union Territories. The country currently has nine Union Territories 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.

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