Hyderabad: The Maharashtra government has begun the formal process to merge 14 villages from Telangana into its Chandrapur district, citing existing revenue records and voter rolls as the basis for its claim.
Maharashtra Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule announced the move on Wednesday, stating that while the villages fall partly under Telangana, they are functionally aligned with Maharashtra and have been recorded accordingly.
“The villages will remain in Maharashtra. We have initiated the merger process and possess the revenue documents to support this,” Bawankule told reporters.
He added that residents of the villages are registered voters in Maharashtra and will cast their votes there. The villages fall in Rajura and Jivati talukas and are proposed to be integrated into Chandrapur district.
Maharashtra Minister Uday Samant also backed the development but avoided addressing broader border disputes. He stated that similar efforts were being considered in Marathi-speaking areas near the Karnataka border.
The announcement followed a high-level meeting in Mumbai chaired by Bawankule, with MLA Devrao Bhongale, Chandrapur Collector Vinay Gowda GC, and village representatives in attendance. The delegation reportedly raised concerns faced by the villages, to which the minister responded favourably.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut praised the move and called on Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to expedite efforts concerning 672 villages along the Maharashtra-Karnataka border, including Belgaum, Nipani, Karwar, and Khanapur.
Raut claimed that 22 lakh Marathi speakers in those areas face language imposition and have long awaited integration into Maharashtra.
